Abiding in Himনমুনা

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me." - John 15:4 KJV

Fruitfulness is the evidence of abiding in Jesus. Fruitlessness is as a result of being apart from Him. No branch has life of its own; the life in the vine is what flows to the branches. It means that the branches only bear fruit because of their union with the vine. This is blessed truth: fruitfulness is not a believer's work or doing; it is an overflow of a life deeply immersed into Christ. The only thing a believer needs to do to be fruitful is to abide in Jesus.

By fruitfulness we are talking about the evidence of the Christian life in all its expressions. It thus means that I'm more of a Christian when I'm more conscious of my oneness with Christ. And I struggle to live the Christian life when I lose that consciousness. The truth is, the power to live the Christian life is not at the mercy of the believer but at the mercy of his abiding in Christ; the more a Christian abides in Christ the more he is able to live the Christian life because the power to live as Christ lived comes from Christ himself.

A lot of believers assume that if they try harder, they will become better Christians, but this always leads to endless frustration and misery. Christ hates that we have to drown in oceans of frustration and crumble under the weight of our misery. He delights to see us totally lean on him for our Christian living. We know that the apostles were noticed because it was evident that they had been with Jesus. Our life only reflects how much we have been with him.

We must note that the Christian life is simply Christ living through us. It is all about the person of Jesus and His pulsating, eternal life finding expression in and through us. It is not us trying so hard to be like Him. It is not a copy-cat endeavor, but a life deeply connected to Christ such a way that He sees through us, He speaks through us, He loves through us, and He lives through us. This is fruitfulness; this is the Christian life.