Remain...Day 31

"remain" by leanne

 “I am the vine; you are the branches.
If you remain in me and I in you,
you will bear much fruit;
apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:5

I was contemplating today about what it means to be in utterly total ….absolute dependence on Christ. 

It means remaining in him….staying connected...receiving.

That is where it gets hard for me sometimes…receiving… and trusting that what I receive is sufficient.

I am not gardener…in fact, I once killed my houseplants by spraying them with Pledge to make their leaves shiny!  But I do know that a vine brings nourishment to the branches of plant which allow it to produce fruit.  A branch disconnected from the plant is dead.

And John 15 teaches us that the same is true of our relationship with Christ.  We need to stay connected and receive all that we need for life and then we will be given the joy of producing fruit.

It doesn’t make any sense to be anywhere but connected to the vine…so why do I wander sometimes???

"What a life would come to us if we only consented to be branches! Dear child of God, learn the lesson. You have but one thing to do: Only be a branch--nothing more, nothing less! Just be a branch; Christ will be the Vine that gives all."

from The True Vine, by Andrew Murray