ABIDING IN THE LIFE OF CHRIST
When Jesus said, “I am the true Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser” (John 15:1), His words were spoken in the quiet upper room, where shadows deepened and love overflowed. He had washed their feet (John 13:5), broken the bread, shared the cup (Luke 22:19–20), and now He shared His very heart. The Vine was before them—not just an illustration, but a revelation. He is the true Source of life (John 14:6), the unseen power that turns faith into fruit and sorrow into song. Every branch that abides in Him draws its strength from His life (John 15:4). Every word He speaks becomes the sap that nourishes the soul (John 6:63).
He is the perfect Teacher because He is the truth itself (John 14:6). Others point toward light, but He is the Light (John 8:12). Others tell us how to live, but He gives the life that makes living possible. He calls us not merely to learn from Him but to live in Him (John 15:4). This is more than discipleship. It is divine union. The Christian life is not imitation but participation—Christ living in us, as the branch lives through the vine (Galatians 2:20).
The Father, as the Vinedresser, prunes every fruitful branch (John 15:2). His knife is never harsh but holy. What feels like loss is love’s refinement. He cuts away pride, fear, and the clutter of self that we might yield more of His likeness. “No chastening seems joyful for the present,” Scripture says, “but afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness” (Hebrews 12:11). Every tear shed in faith becomes the dew that nourishes new growth. The soul that submits to His hand becomes radiant with quiet strength.
We are cleansed by the word He speaks (John 15:3). Just as the gardener washes the dust from the leaves so the light may touch them, the Spirit uses Scripture to wash the soul (Ephesians 5:26). The blood of the Lamb makes us clean, but the Word keeps us clean. The heart renewed daily by truth will always bear fruit that glorifies the Lord (John 15:8). His cleansing is not condemnation but communion, restoring the shine of grace where the dust of the world had dimmed it.
Salvation itself is pure gift (Ephesians 2:8). We come to the Vine not with merit but with need. Christ fulfilled every righteous demand on our behalf (Romans 8:3-4). We do not work to earn salvation. We work because we have been saved. Love becomes our motive, gratitude our labor. “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). The fruit of obedience does not purchase life—it proves it. The branch that abides in the Vine cannot help but bear fruit. It is the natural outflow of divine life within (John 15:5).
To abide is to remain—to rest, to trust, to draw our strength from Him continually (John 15:9–10). It is not striving but surrender, not performance but dependence. It is waking each morning with the quiet prayer, “Without You I can do nothing” (John 15:5). Abiding fills the soul with peace in the storm and joy in the pruning. It turns ordinary days into holy ones, because the life within the believer is no longer his own. “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).
When the night grows dark and the branches seem barren, we remember His promise: “Abide in Me” (John 15:4). Beneath the soil, unseen, the roots still live. The sap will rise again. The fruit will return. So we wait, resting in His unchanging love. Seasons of barrenness are not abandonment but preparation. The joy will come, the fruit will ripen, and the Vine will be glorified (John 15:8).
Lord Jesus, let my heart abide in You today, that Your life may flow through me forever.
Bryan Dewayne Dunaway
