Abide in Me!

My kids love strawberries. As I opened a fresh box of strawberries the other day, I found a little strawberry stem, that didn’t quite make it into a strawberry. I had never seen one, and, personally intrigued, thought my kids would be too! So I showed it to my nine-year old daughter, who was so excited, she grabbed it out of my hand and ran to a flower pot we have at our home. “Grace, what are you trying to do?” I asked. “I want to plant it so we can have more strawberries,” she innocently replied. “Oh, but dear, that isn’t possible, because it’s no longer connected to the strawberry tree,” I sorrowfully explained.

It was then that the words, “I am the vine, you are the branches…” began ringing in my ears. I shared Jesus’ poignant teaching on the vine and the branches in John 15 with Grace. It was one of those “teachable moments” for which bedtime just had to wait.

But it wasn’t a teachable moment just for Grace. It was for me too. My heavenly Father was leaving a lasting image of that strawberry stem in my mind. I went back and reread John 15, which took me to John 14. Allow me to share.

“As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit” (John 15:4,5). There was no chance this strawberry stem could produce fruit because it was disconnected from the vine. But what does “abide” mean? The word “abide” comes from the Greek “menó” which means “to stay, remain, wait” and occurs 11 times in this chapter and 118 times in the New Testament!

So to abide in Christ means to remain in Him, to rest in Him, to be in Him, to be so connected to Him that we are one!

And the fascinating thing is that not only are we to abide in Jesus, but He promises that when we abide in Him, He abides in us! In John chapter 14, the disciples were filled with fear when Jesus repeatedly told them that He would leave them. He comforted them with the unfathomable promise of the Holy Spirit, and said those incredible words, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23). “Make our home with him” is the ultimate meaning of abiding! God does not live in temples made by man, but in human hearts. We are His temple and He desires to be in us and we in Him! And this unity is not just some superficial type of metaphorical unity… Jesus says, “In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (John 14:20). Do you realize what Jesus is doing here?! He is equating our unity with Him to His unity with the Father!

So why don’t we really experience this type of unity? I mean if we really believed and experienced this type of unity, a lot of things in our lives would change! Our entire perspective/worldview would change and we would “turn the world upside down” as the first disciples did!

That leads us to think of the type of “home” Jesus would choose to abide in. Let’s think back 2018 years ago when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Out of all places, Jesus chose to be born in a manger, with the animals. While He deserved the fanciest royal welcome, Jesus never desired to live in fancy palaces. He was born in a manger, to a poor family, and lived a very simple life, with “nowhere to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20).

And after He was glorified in all the glory and honor due Him, He still choses to be born in the hearts of the poor in spirit, for “to those is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). The poor in spirit are those who acknowledge their bankruptcy before God. Those who acknowledge that their looks, money, family, fame, education, relationships, connections, will never satisfy. Those who acknowledge that apart from the Vine, they can do nothing (John 15:5).

As we welcome a new year, let us welcome Him anew into our hearts. Let us pray to experience a year of “connectivity” to the Vine like never before; so connected that we hear His voice with every step, so connected that we talk and walk and think with Him, so connected that our hearts are burdened with what burdens His heart, so connected that He calls us friend (John 15:14), so connected that we become less and less like us and more and more like Him!

The journey will likely be a tough one, but He is our Shepherd. The pruning will hurt, but He is our Gardener. He does not just give us strength; He is our strength. He does not just love us; He is love. He does nothing apart from Himself and this is the very nature that He invites us to partake in as we abide in Him. So let us abide in Him and allow Him to abide in us. What an incredible honor and blessing and privilege!

Have a blessed new year!