“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you 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. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
John 15:1-7
From my earliest years as a Christian, I equated spiritual disciplines with holiness. Engaging in daily prayers and “quiet time” was, to me, the lifeblood of the believer. If God ever felt distant, or whenever sin prevailed, I assumed there was a crack in the foundation of those essential practices. The opposite also seemed true to me: if God felt close, or whenever temptation was denied, it must be due to diligent habits of prayer and reading.
Through that lens, I used to read John 15 (“abide in me”) as Jesus’ way of saying, “Keep doing the work.” I still believe that’s true in one sense, and devotional time with God is a must! But what if abiding has more to do with believing and resting in His work? What if the first, most necessary spiritual discipline is to put all our hope and trust for holiness squarely on His shoulders, just as we do for our salvation?
Think about it: We don’t go through the day worried, “What if I fail in my salvation?” because we know that our justification is entirely a gift of God, not based on our works. We simply abide in belief. If we can trust Him for our salvation, the most consequential matter of our eternal destiny, then why don’t we trust Him to work out our sanctification in the same way? It’s the same faith! The power of God that raised us from spiritual death also continues to lead us from one degree of glory to the next. We believe it will come to pass simply because He promised to do it.
We reason, “If I do x, y, and z, I will be more like Christ.” But Jesus says, “Apart from me, you can do nothing [of spiritual significance].” In other words, you can be a perfectly dutiful Christian and check all the boxes–attending church, reading your Bible, and praying daily–but if these do not flow out of an ever-deepening affection for Christ, then you might do things Jesus would do but still miss the whole point of becoming like Him. You will be a disconnected branch, trying to look alive.
Our efforts to pursue a deeper relationship with Jesus must begin out of an overflow of our love towards Him. When we get that out of order, we can unwittingly come to trust in our obedience rather than in the strength of Christ to make us more than conquerors. That misplaced trust, in turn, will either make us complacent or fatalistic. The complacent person says, “I checked the boxes, therefore I’m like Jesus.” The fatalist says, “I can never get it right, I always fail, so why even try?” Both mentalities reveal a misplaced trust in self, rather than in the perfections of Christ.
Ironically, when we learn to simply abide, we will crave disciplines that help us commune with Jesus. First, we receive His kindness, then that leads us to repentance; first we believe that He loves us, then we cherish the lines of loving communication represented in prayer and reading His Word. As we grow, the things we do start to feel less like spiritual disciplines and more like the air we breathe. And so it happens that a healthy, growing Christian is one who has learned to abide first, with obedience and constant communication effortlessly flowing from that pure spring.
Meditate on His Word this weekend. Come to church ready to give Him your best worship. Talk to God about everything on your mind. Only let these things be motivated by love, or you may miss the true desire of your heart: connection and deeper intimacy with Jesus, the Vine.
Your brother,
Ryan
1 Purgatory, 9. “All round this little island at the base, where the waves pound against the mountain’s shore, reeds grow in the soft mud. No other plants that break out into leaf or stand upright with stiffened trunk can long survive the place, but yield to all the battering of the waves.”