“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”
John 15:5
John 15 is a passage that has really spoken to me over the past few years and is really convicting and encouraging every time I meditate on it. So I’ve been asking myself over the past couple years what does it actually mean to abide in Jesus Christ… I really like the analogy of the vine and the branches, and if you do research on the process of grafting, it involves a lot of cutting and matching the cut on the branch with the vine, which is such a good word picture of how God has to cut areas of our life away that are not pleasing to Him and hinder us from truly abiding. Even though it can be very painful, and hard to cut out those areas, it’s the only way to be truly connected to the vine.
I used to think that its so hard to meditate, but the truth is we are always meditating and thinking about something, so the challenge is not whether we are meditating or not, but rather what are we meditating on, and filling our mind with. Luke 6:43-45 explains it so well about what we meditate on will flow out of us whether good or bad.
Luk. 6:43 “For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.”
Luk. 6:44 “For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.”
Luk. 6:45 “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.”
I recently heard the analogy of abiding in Christ is like a hot air balloon. As we look at the law of gravity which is likened unto sin, and the law of hot air which is likened unto Jesus Christ. The law of gravity/sin is all around us and we can’t deny it but God blessed us with a greater law. As we are born again, and abide in Christ it is like climbing into a hot air ballon, and that law of hot air/ Jesus Christ overcomes that law of gravity/sin and we gain altitude. Now as long as we abide in Gods Word the law of sin is defeated, but it doesn’t matter how well life is going if we at any time think we can do this on our own, and start slacking in abiding in Christ, we are actually stepping out of that hot air balloon and the law of gravity/sin is just as real now as it was to start with and it will pull you down. So I encourage you to be faithful in abiding consistently.
Joshua 1:8 is one of my favorite passages with such a precious promise if we meditate in God’s Word day and night.
Jos 1:8. “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
“Cling to the Word of God like your life depends on it, because indeed it does.” Paul Washer
~Jason R
Thank you Jason for the analogy of the law of gravity and the the law of hot air!! Your scripture references were excellent! Thank you!