In some translations, they used the words “abide” and this word is completely a different level of remaining. It means to comply, to obey and to acknowledge. These words are unlikely the most difficult things to do. It is even hard to abide in our government laws, how much more to God’s?
We can never deny that we are not naturally law abiding people. We delight in disobeying and we delight in doing things that are not normal and right because it is our nature to be disobedient. It is our nature to delight in evil and live as a sinful being.
However, those instances are only present for only one reason— we haven’t understood the grace of God and what Jesus did on the cross for us. As we continue sinning and dwelling on the prohibited section, we are slowly walking away from God. We might deny that we are walking away from Him, but it is exactly what we are doing.
In our verse, Jesus talked about the comparison between us and a vine branch and Him and a vine. Jesus said that we are like vine branches and He is like the vine. When a branch of vine has been cut off from the vine itself, it can no longer live because it has been cut off from its source of life. Therefore, it will wither and eventually die.
Jesus used this example to make us understand that we cannot do anything if we are not in Him. He is our source of life and if we are cut off from the source, we will eventually wither and die. Jesus was not being harsh about this but He was just stating the facts.
Good thing is, God does not cut us off but instead, we cut ourselves off from Him. He did not walk away from us, but we walked away from Him. Abiding in Him seems to be a very hard thing to do, especially if we are still delighting and dwelling with darkness. It is very hard to abide in Jesus and remain in Him especially if we still crave for our sinful desires.
Again, even abiding in our world law is hard, how much more abiding in God? It is very hard since everything inside us will always want to depart from Him. Our sinful nature will always fight its way out and will want us to walk away from God. However, God is a loving God and He loves us so much and He cares for us.
He knows that we are not capable of complying and abiding by Him, so He sent Jesus Christ to save us from our sins. Yet it doesn’t mean that if we are saved already, we have the right to do whatever we want and walk away from Him. Instead, it is Jesus who said that we should abide in Him or else we cannot do anything, which is very true!
As He came here to save us from our sins, He also made sure that He will be able to change us. Before our sinful nature will always try to walk away from Him, now we can say that we are able to remain and abide in His love already because He has already made us new. He has taken away our old selves and has given us the Holy Spirit.
Abiding and remaining in Jesus means complying to everything God has commanded us to do. It means not cutting ourselves from Him for He is our source of life and apart from Him we can never do anything. Therefore, as people who were once having hard times of abiding in God, may we already be able to completely abide in Him as people who are new creations.
Let us always remember to remain in His love and not depart from Him for He is our source of life. We are already new creations, therefore we are capable of living our lives just as how Jesus did. We have already buried our old selves and have become the saved and pardoned version of ourselves.
May we become obedient and abide in Jesus Christ for only through Him we are saved by faith. Let us always remember to go back to Him everytime we feel like we are drifting away because we know that He is always there waiting for us. May we not walk away from Him because we know that for sure, like the vine branches, we will wither and die. Only through Him we can find our redemption; only through Him we are saved; only through Jesus Christ we can finally submit everything and let Him run our lives.
So, as we fight our everyday battle, may we always remember to ask for His help and be at ease because He got our back. Let us all remain in His love and not depart from Him.
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