Branches

"Abide in me, and I in you." - Jesus Christ (John 15:4)

abide |əˈbīd|verb: continue without fading or being lost.• archaic live; dwell.

Jesus asks to no longer relate to him and yourself as two separate things, you are one. You live in Christ as much as He lives in you. However, you must understand your place. He goes on to say he is the vine. The vine is the life source, nothing can survive cut off from its source of life. We are his branches. We grow from the roots of his being. We are one tree, but separate parts. If we want to bear fruit, we need to stay connected to that life-source. Fruit can't grow from branches that lie on the ground after being pruned. May none of us ever face the pruning of Christ's vine.

"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."