Amazing Grace

I have found myself going back again and again to the passage in John 15 where Jesus is teaching His disciples about remaining in Him. In verse 4, Christ said to them, “Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.” I have found myself coming back to this concept of remaining in Christ. The word “remain” means to abide in, to rest in, to wait on, to cultivate an intimacy with, and to cling to. I find it incredible that the God of creation told His disciples that one key to following Him was to develop an intimacy with Him. I note that it is a command. He told His followers to remain in Him. That implies that it is not something that comes natural, but has to be worked at. It is not my nature to “remain” in Him. I find that the busyness of my day quickly consumes my time and my heart. I find it far easier to do a great number of good things and far more of a challenge to carve out the time to rest in His presence. To sit at His feet. To develop a greater intimacy with the invisible God who is able to be known and loved and enjoyed. He created me to enjoy Him. I tend to be like Martha who was with Jesus but was busy with so many tasks and is described as “distracted.” That’s me – often distracted from the things that really matter. It was Mary who sat at the Savior’s feet listening to Him. Jesus said, “Mary has chosen what is better,” (Luke 10:42) Only when we choose what is better are we able to be really productive and make a difference in others lives. Only then are we able to “bear fruit” as Jesus said.

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