Feeling At Ease

In John 15, Jesus speaks about the vine, the vine dresser, and the branches. Jesus is speaking about a new relationship that Christians will have with Him and God the Father. Christ will be in us and we will be in him. “…Abide in me and I in you… .” Our Christian life and relationship with Christ is likened to a vine and its branches. The branches depend upon the vine not only for life, but also for the ability to produce fruit in the same way we depend upon our position in Christ in order to produce the fruit of the Spirit and live out our new life.

John 15 :1, 2, 4 “I am the true vine and my Father is the farmer (Vine dresser). All the branches in me not bearing fruit, He lifts up and all the branches bearing fruit he cleanses in order that it should bear more fruit … abide in me and I in you. Just as the branch does not have the ability to bear fruit from itself except it abide in the vine, in a similar way you are not able to produce fruit expect you abide in me.”

Feeling at ease in the Vine

The word “abide or remain” is one of the Greek words for occupying a space. Abide carries the idea of feeling at ease with where you are located; it is the type of feeling that you have when you are in your own home. You are comfortable with where you are. Abiding in Christ not only has to do with how comfortable you are in your position in Christ, but also with who you are in Christ. As we mature in our Christian lives, we should become more and more familiar and comfortable with who we are in Christ. As we mature and live from our position in Christ, the Holy Spirit begins to produce fruit in our lives. The more comfortable we are in Christ, the more the Holy Spirit will show the life of God through ours.

Learning how to abide starts with learning about what happened at salvation. How did our lives change before God? We need to understand what God’s opinion of us is now in order to feel comfortable with who we are before Him. In salvation, two changes happen simultaneously: our position is changed, and life is given to us. Our position before God is changed through baptism. We are given life through regeneration.

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