"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).
I have always heard that you will have to abide in Jesus in order to bear much fruit as a Christian.
But what does that mean?
It was not until my husband was sentenced to eight years in the notorious Evin prison in Iran because of his Christian faith that I could no longer get by as a Christian by simply being content to be in the Vine (Jesus). Instead, I had to learn to abide in the Vine. It was the only way I could get the supernatural strength and peace I needed to be a single mom to my kids and to fight for my husband's release.
But how do we abide in Jesus? First, we have to abide in His love (John 15:9).
How do we abide in His love? We abide in His love by keeping His commandments (John 15:10).
What commandments are we suppose to keep? To love one another and to lay our lives down for one another (John 15:12–13).
Jesus has given us what seem like simple instructions on how to abide in Him and bear much fruit. But it requires painful death to self and obedience to God's Word in showing radical sacrificial love to those around us—both can only be done by God's supernatural work within us. This is when we become like a tree bearing much fruit for the Kingdom of God. And it's then that those around us are nourished as they eat of our fruit and those who are lost, hungering for God, are drawn to us and find salvation in the gospel we proclaim.
My dear friend, you might have been a Christian for most of your life and, like me, you have been IN Jesus but have not yet experienced the freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness of ABIDING in Him.
I invite you to draw into a deeper communion with Jesus by learning His ways. He longs for you to bear much fruit for His Kingdom and for His Glory.
How will you choose to abide in Him today?
Written by Naghmeh Abedini.
