“Abide in me”
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit,
for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
You are warmly welcome!
Who is your father? The question of paternity is fast gaining frequency. It is a really awkward situation to be finding out the real father of a child that was born out of actions of consenting adults; but this shows how fallen our world is! It is still a question of identity, belonging and relatedness. Jesus introduced God the Creator as his and our Father; he emphasized the relationships with various illustrations with a view of calling back lost sons and daughters to the ultimate family. To all who are invited, the choice is still left to each to decide whether to reject and sever or accept and affirm the relationship.
Our relationship with Jesus Christ, in a healthy state, is compared to a vine and fruitful branches (John 15). To remain in the Vine, First, you must bear fruit. The verdict for the barren branch is clear: it is cut off and dissociated from the Vine, thrown away and followed up with fire. How can a branch that is firmly attached to the Vine be barren and fruitless? This branch represents people who are conscious followers of Jesus Christ, but are spiritually sick; the sickness could be stuntedness, laziness, weakness or being oppressively possessed by hindering evil spirits. Jesus is the Great Physician and you can be healed and start bearing fruit, and thereby escape the destroying fire.
Secondly you must be deliberately willing. Those who are loosely and carelessly attached are choosing not to remain: they eventually fall off; this category points to children and adults who only associate with Christians, follow relatives or peers to Church, even join some ministering groups – but without a personal resolve to follow Jesus Christ. They have no discipline of reading the Word of God regularly; they only depend on what they hear on Sunday, if at all they pay attention. The seed of the Word that falls in their hearts is as good as the seed that ‘fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.’ Eventually they cannot bear fruit, and they suffer the fate of the barren branches – they too are cut off to dry and be burned.
To abide in Christ is to abide in His Word – to read, meditate and put in practice the Word of God; and to bear fruit is to exercise unconditional love to God and to people. These are the marks of identity for those that belong to God as Father.
God bless you!