Forever Fruitful In ChristSample

Giving Up on Going Solo

There are three ways to get something done: do it yourself, hire someone, or forbid your kids to do it. — Unknown

When Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing,” He clearly didn’t mean that we can’t do anything. Obviously, there are things we can do. We can drive a car, we can go to work, we can pay our mortgage. We can do things. What He’s saying is, “If you’re going to do something of eternal significance—if you want to make a difference in people’s lives, if you want to bear real spiritual fruit that matters eternally—apart from Me you just can’t do it. You can’t produce true fruit in the power of the flesh.” 

If we choose not to remain in Christ, if we choose not to abide in Him, not to allow His power to work through us, we’re just like a branch that’s not even connected. There’s no difference. Why would we even want to live that way? (Well, pride for starters, but let’s pretend that was a rhetorical question.)

The point is this: We were designed to remain in Christ, dependent on Him to live His life through us.

“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15:8)

What happens when we bear fruit? Two things: 

1. We show ourselves to be disciples. The fruit of the Spirit makes it obvious that we’re truly Christ’s disciples, because only He can bear that kind of fruit. As it shows, it’s clear that He’s the one who’s doing it through us.

2. The Father gets the glory. There’s something that’s just so right about that. It’s like everything falls into its proper place when people look past us and praise God from whom all good things flow.

Jesus, I know there are a whole lot of things that I can do outside of You. But I can’t do anything that’s going to matter in eternity unless I rest in You. I surrender it all to You right now. Teach me to become more and more dependent on You. Amen!