"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
Here in the first sentence of our text Jesus emphasized a mutual relationship. It isn’t only that the disciple abides in the Master, but the Master also abides in the disciple. Jesus used this picture to assure His disciples of a continued connection and relationship even though He was about to depart from them.
He then goes on to say, as long as we stay connected to Him (the vine), we (the branches) will remain spiritually nourished and bear fruit. But, break that connection and we will begin to spiritually wither and die, and like a broken branch, we will not blossom - bear fruit.
Staying in Jesus means digging into His Word and filling our hearts and minds with His nourishing truth. This strengthens our inner man and prepares us to share with others (as the spirit leads), feeding them from the fruit we have developed by abiding in Christ.
However, break that connection and we will be as useless as a fig tree without figs, or a grape vine without grapes. We can do nothing for Him because our witness, our testimony, our walk, has become lifeless, withered and unfruitful. Therefore, abide in Him.
The Truth: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” (John 15:4)
