Bible League: Living His Word Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.— John 15:4 NLT We have been spending much of our evenings in our garden over the past summer, planting vegetables, herbs, fruits, and flowers. I realize gardening is very hard work, but it is quite fulfilling to watch little seedlings grow into healthy plants. It is super exciting to watch the fruits and vegetables grow on them with time. We have had a healthy harvest of beans, cucumbers, lettuce, mint, rosemary, figs, blueberries, and spinach. We had planted a couple of tiny seedlings of cherry tomatoes, and we watched them grow into healthy vines about two feet high. Soon we observed little clusters of tomatoes, and they are getting bigger and juicier every day. How awesome! But we had little insects and bugs in our garden inflicting damage on our tomato vines. So, we had to cut a few branches off. The cut off branches could still be identified as a tomato plant because of their outward appearance, but soon the severed branches withered in the sun and dried up. They went into our garden waste bin. All the branches that remained in the plant got their nourishment from the vine and produced a whole lot more tomatoes. Like these branches, unless we as Christians remain in Christ, we will be fruitless. What would you say if I were to ask you, "How do you identify a Christian?" You would probably answer that they go to church, they pray, they give generously, they are forgiving and loving, they don't swear, and they read a Bible. But it is possible to do all of that without being a Christian. However, it is impossible to remain in Christ and not bear His fruit. In today's world of fake branded products, fake news, deep fake technology, artificial intelligence, and false social media posts designed to get likes and follows, it has become hard to recognize the real from the fake. Speaking of fake believers, Jesus our Lord warned us that we would know them by their "fruits." One can bear fruits of righteousness only by remaining in Christ. A severed branch would perhaps look like a Christian but fruitless. In the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, it's easy to become disconnected, like a branch severed from the vine. The world throws challenges our way, and sometimes we feel the weight of our responsibilities pulling us in different directions. In those moments, we must intentionally choose to remain in Christ. When we abide in Christ, our lives become fruitful. The fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23)—begin to manifest in our daily interactions. I like to think of remaining in Christ as living for the audience of One. I only need to please one person, Jesus Christ. I only need to obey His Word and leave all the consequences thereof to Him. I need to sever myself from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and be grafted on to the tree of life, which is Jesus Christ. Remaining in Christ involves staying close to Him in your very thoughts, actions, and daily decisions. It involves finding solutions to life's challenges in His Word and not from this world because you no longer are a branch on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You are now a branch on the tree of life. As we discipline ourselves to consistently rely on His Word for all things pertaining to life, we draw sustenance from the vine—Jesus Christ—and we find wisdom and strength to navigate life's challenges. As you go about your day, remember the invitation to remain in Christ. Choose to stay connected to the true vine, drawing strength, wisdom, and life from the source. May your journey be one of continuous growth, abiding in the love and grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. By Santosh Chandran, Bible League International staff, New Zealand Bible in a Year Old Testament Reading2 Samuel 21, 22 2 Samuel 21 -- The Gibeonites Avenged; Battles with the Philistines NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB 2 Samuel 22 -- David's Song of Deliverance NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Luke 22:1-30 Luke 22 -- Preparing the Passover; Jesus Arrested, Disowned by Peter NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God. God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past.Insight God wants us to view what we have (whether it is much or little) with the right perspective—our possessions are a gift from God. Although they are not the source of joy, they are a reason to rejoice because every good thing comes from God. Challenge We should focus more on the Giver than the gift. We can be content with what we have when we realize that with God, we have everything we need. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Jeremiah 17:17 Thou art my hope in the day of evil.The path of the Christian is not always bright with sunshine; he has his seasons of darkness and of storm. True, it is written in God's Word, "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace;" and it is a great truth, that religion is calculated to give a man happiness below as well as bliss above; but experience tells us that if the course of the just be "As the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day," yet sometimes that light is eclipsed. At certain periods clouds cover the believer's sun, and he walks in darkness and sees no light. There are many who have rejoiced in the presence of God for a season; they have basked in the sunshine in the earlier stages of their Christian career; they have walked along the "green pastures" by the side of the "still waters," but suddenly they find the glorious sky is clouded; instead of the Land of Goshen they have to tread the sandy desert; in the place of sweet waters, they find troubled streams, bitter to their taste, and they say, "Surely, if I were a child of God, this would not happen." Oh! say not so, thou who art walking in darkness. The best of God's saints must drink the wormwood; the dearest of his children must bear the cross. No Christian has enjoyed perpetual prosperity; no believer can always keep his harp from the willows. Perhaps the Lord allotted you at first a smooth and unclouded path, because you were weak and timid. He tempered the wind to the shorn lamb, but now that you are stronger in the spiritual life, you must enter upon the riper and rougher experience of God's full-grown children. We need winds and tempests to exercise our faith, to tear off the rotten bough of self-dependence, and to root us more firmly in Christ. The day of evil reveals to us the value of our glorious hope. Daily Light on the Daily Path 1 Samuel 12:24 "Only fear the LORD and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you.Deuteronomy 8:2,5 "You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. • "Thus you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. Psalm 119:75,71,67 I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. • It is good for me that I was afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes. • Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word. Psalm 118:18 The LORD has disciplined me severely, But He has not given me over to death. Psalm 103:10,11,14 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. • For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. • For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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