#vinandbranches

Indeed. We must always follow Christ.

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Let us follow Christ and He will make us fishers of men. Let us make disciples and bring more people to Him.

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This Sunday, we will once again learn about the importance of abiding in God at all times. We are also reminded that whatever we will do, it must always be for the Father’s glory. During the years of Jesus’ ministry, He was always telling all the people that He only wants to glorify the Father and He is always following the Will of God. Now, glorifying the Father is not only Christ’s ministry but also us. As we read our verse today, we are reminded by Jesus that as we bear much fruit, we are glorifying the Father and that we are proving that we are really His disciples. 

If we read the verses before our verse today, Jesus used the vine and the branches as the analogy to make us understand that we need God at all times. Also, it is very important for us to note that Jesus did not say that if we obey, we are saved or that if we have disciples then we will be saved. Abiding in Christ and remaining in Him is not something we pay so we will be able to have our salvation. We have to always remember that our salvation only belongs to Christ, that no payment that comes from us will ever be enough for us to have it, it’s only because of grace and by faith we are saved. 

So, what Jesus means by this passage is that remaining in Christ and having lots of fruits are evidence that we are saved. It is not the prior thing we have to do to be saved, but it is the result of our salvation. We have to really understand that in this passage, Jesus particularly pointed to two things that can prove if we are really saved, if we have really received Him as our Lord and Savior and how we can glorify the Father at all times, which is by abiding in Him always and bearing much fruit. 

The Father is indeed pleased if we obey His Word and follow His Word, which we know that His Word is Jesus Christ who is the incarnate Word. Thus, as Jesus Christ is the Word incarnate, we must follow Him, become like Him and always remain in Him. As people who are saved by grace through faith, one biggest evidence of us being saved is the wisdom to understand that we really must remain in Christ and always abide in Him. If we have not truly understood it, it will be impossible for us to know the importance of why we always need Jesus. However, when we understand it right and deeply, we always know that we are in need of Christ, our Lord and our Savior. 

Therefore, we must realize that abiding in Christ is not something God really forces us to do, but it is something expected to us for it is the evidence that we are saved. Also, producing or bearing fruit or having disciples also is the evidence that we are Christ’s disciples. As we are called to be like Christ, being like Christ is having our disciples. Just like Christ who has His disciples, including us, we are ought to have disciples to bring them to Christ. We are called to bring more people to Christ, for we are His branches and branches should produce fruit. By this, we have to understand that in order a branch can produce fruit, it has to be connected to the source, to the vine. 

Thus, in order for us to bear fruit as branches of Christ, we should always be connected to the source which is Christ Himself. That is why Jesus reminded us that we should always remain in Him and abide in the truth with the Word of God. So, this is what truly manifests in us if we are really in Him. We will have fruits which are our disciples and we will bring more people to the knowledge of Christ. Thus, through this, we are glorifying the Father, and proves that we are Christ’s. Let us always remember to remain in Him and bear much fruit for everything we should do must glorify the Father in heaven. May we become more and more like Christ everyday.

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Remain in God’s love, for He is always there for you.

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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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Abide in Jesus Christ.

For more daily reflection, verse and encouragement, you may follow us. You can also like, follow and visit us on:

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