ABIDE IN ME

Saturday, 8-13,2011 – Jeremiah 13-15; John 15 - “Abide In Me”

S=Scripture; O=Observation; A=Application; P=Prayer

S - John 15:4 “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.”

O - Jesus is teaching his disciples the importance of living in Him and His living in them. That without Him they would not be able to represent a Christ like character, their actions in challenging circumstances would be worldly, and they would not be influential in winning others to Christ. Eventually they would lose their passion for being His disciples and go back into the world with its ultimate end….death.

A -This past spring driving to work I noticed the beautiful trees that lined our city streets. They were in full bloom, filled with pretty pink flowers. On one particular morning after a heavy snow fall (not unusual for Vermont) I noticed one of the branches with all its beautiful flowers had broken off one of the trees. It reminded me of Jesus’ teaching, “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.” It was sad to realize that this branch with all of its beautiful flowers was going to wither and die and eventually be collected by the city maintenance people and tossed into a burning fire never more to be remembered or realized of its full potential. That broken branch still maintained its beautiful flowers, it still looked as though life was flowing through it, but eventually those flowers would fade and the branch would dry up and die. Like the flowers and branch still perceiving to have life but no longer being a part of the tree if we choose to no longer live in Christ and He in us we will only “look alive” and only for a short time. Eventually we will go back into the things of the world and die. We will never come to realize the full potential that He has placed within us. Our choice to “live in Him” will bring forth His likeness, His purpose, His plans, and the full potential to bring forth “ fruit “ yes, the fruit He already sees within us!

P- Jesus you are the Vine. Father you are the Vinedresser. Help us to continually abide in you as You abide in us. We give you permission to work out the things that will bring about Christ likeness within us. May our one desire be to glorify You in the things that we say and do, and to be known as Your disciples.