This year let’s celebrate July 4 as DEPENDENCE DAY.
Before we fire up the grill and fire off the bottle rockets, let’s pause and remember our dependence on Christ for life, breath and everything else.
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 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 (John 15:4-5).
We can do NOTHING apart from abiding in, continuing in, and fellowshipping with Christ. “Apart from me you can do NOTHING.” Not some things – nothing. Literally.
Apart from Christ we can’t overcome sin, or become more like him. We can’t love God, make it through trials, or live the Christian life.
How do we abide in Christ? There’s a distinct link between abiding in Christ and abiding in his Word:
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you (John 15:7).
If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love (John 15:10).
Abiding in Christ’s word is a major component of abiding in Christ. We abide in Christ’s word when we take it in, meditate on it, apply it to our lives, and obey it.
Therefore, apart from continuing in Christ’s word, we won’t bear the Spirit’s fruit of love, joy, and peace. We’ll lack patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
When people come to me for counseling, often one of my first questions is: Are you regularly spending time in the Word of God? Because if they fail to do this, though I’m happy to counsel them, in the long run my counsel will be of little benefit because they’re not abiding in Christ.
I’m convinced that a large amount of counseling would be unnecessary if believers sought to faithfully read, meditate on, and obey the Bible.
When life puts the squeeze on me, I’m tempted to neglect the Word. I think things like: I don’t have time to read the Bible, I need to get working on this problem. Or, I can’t afford to read the Bible today, I have so much to do at work.
The truth is, we can’t afford NOT to read the Bible. Because if we neglect his word, we neglect Christ, and apart from him we can do NOTHING. But if we abide in him, we’ll bear much fruit. If we seek first his kingdom, and not our own pursuits, God will add all things to us.
So let’s resolve this Dependence Day to be more dependent on Christ and to seek to abide more consistently in his Word.
photo by Sue
Written by Mark Altrogge
Topics: God's Word