Seeking Truth in Today's Troubled World

“Abide in me, and I in you.” With these few words in John 15 the Lord gathers up the whole Christian life into one image. He does not invite us to admire him from a distance, nor to copy him as one copies a sketch. He joins his life to ours as a vine joins its branches, so that the fruit borne on our little twigs is truly his life made visible. The command is not first to achieve, but to remain. Not first to produce, but to receive. 

What it means to abide 

To abide in Christ is to live by ongoing union with him. It is not a feeling that visits and leaves. It is a settled staying. The branch does not come and go from the vine. It draws life every moment or it withers. Our Lord says, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). He is not exaggerating. The Christian is not a bucket to be filled on Sunday and poured out during the week. The Christian is a branch that must draw sap continually. 

This union is covenantal and personal. “Christ lives in me,” says Paul, “and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20). By faith we receive and rest in a living Savior. By the Spirit he dwells in our hearts through faith so that we are rooted and grounded in love (Ephesians 3:16-17). Abiding, then, is faith staying at home in Christ. It is trust that refuses to relocate to self. 

How we abide 

Scripture gives simple means, as homely and sturdy as a farmer’s tools. 

We abide by his words abiding in us. “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples” (John 8:31). “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Colossians 3:16). Read, meditate, and obey. Not as a superstition, not as a charm on a chain, but as seed that takes root. The heart that hides his word will not wander far before the word pulls it back. 

We abide through prayer. Branches do not muscle fruit into existence. They draw life. Prayer is the drawing. “Ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” is joined to “abide in me” and “my words abide in you” (John 15:7). Prayer takes the promises back to their Giver. It is the soul breathing in dependence and breathing out praise and petition. “Pray without ceasing” describes a life that stays turned toward the Vine even while working with both hands (1 Thessalonians 5:17). 

We abide by obeying his commands. “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love” (John 15:10). Obedience does not earn the love. It enjoys it. When he says, “Follow me,” he gives both the path and the strength to walk it. The Spirit who dwells in us writes the law on our hearts so that we learn to love what God loves (Romans 8:4-11; Jeremiah 31:33). 

We abide in the fellowship of his people. Branches are not grafted one by one into a private vine. We are one body in Christ, members of one another (Romans 12:5). We exhort one another every day so that none is hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13). To neglect the assembly is to starve the branch of needed light and care (Hebrews 10:24-25). 

We abide by the Lord’s Table. “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (John 6:56). In the Supper, by faith, we receive again what he gave once for all at the cross, and we proclaim his death until he comes. The Table does not replace faith. It nourishes it. 

We abide by repentance. The Father prunes every fruitful branch, that it may bear more fruit (John 15:2). Repentance is how we consent to the pruning. We do not defend our dead shoots. We bring them to the Gardener and say, Cut what you must, keep what you will, make more room for Christ. 

What abiding looks like today 

The average Christian today lives under hurry, noise, and a constant flicker of lesser lights. Abiding will not look grand to the world. It will look like a person who quietly rearranges the day so that Scripture and prayer meet him before the world does. It will look like a woman who keeps short accounts with God and neighbor, quick to forgive because she has been forgiven much. It will look like a man who does his work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, since he serves the Lord Christ (Colossians 3:23-24). It will look like a family that chooses worship on the Lord’s Day, hospitality in the week, and truth spoken in love. The fruit will be the fruit the Spirit gives. Love that is patient. Joy that does not depend on weather. Peace that holds while headlines shout. Kindness that does not need applause. Self-control that says no because it has already said yes to a greater love (Galatians 5:22-23). 

Abiding will also look like endurance. Some seasons feel like winter. The branch appears bare. Yet if it remains in the vine, it is not dead. Hope waits. Faith prays. Love keeps serving. “Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31). The quiet Christians who keep watch through long nights are often the ones God uses to shade many when summer comes. 

Pitfalls that mimic abiding 

There are counterfeits that dress like abiding but cannot bear fruit. 

Routine without reliance. It is possible to read Scripture daily and never actually receive from Christ. The Pharisees searched the Scriptures but refused to come to him for life (John 5:39-40). The test is obedience that springs from love. “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23). 

Activity without attachment. Service can become a way to avoid dependence. Martha was “anxious and troubled about many things” while Mary chose the better part at Jesus’ feet (Luke 10:38-42). Work that does not begin at his feet soon becomes work that does not bear his likeness. 

Culture without cross. It is easy to abide in a Christian atmosphere rather than in Christ himself. We echo phrases, attend events, and adopt opinions, but the inner life remains unyielded. Paul desired to be “found in him” and to know “the power of his resurrection” and “the fellowship of his sufferings” (Philippians 3:9-10). The cross is not decor. It is the doorway. 

Confidence without confession. To say “I know him” while walking in darkness is to lie (1 John 2:4). Abiding does not make sin impossible, but it makes unrepented sin intolerable. Those who abide confess sins and find that he is faithful and just to forgive (1 John 1:9). 

Gifts without fruit. Gifts can impress. Fruit persuades. Some will say, “Did we not do many mighty works in your name” and will hear that he never knew them (Matthew 7:22-23). The mark of the true branch is not showy ability but steady likeness to Christ. 

What the relationship looks like 

Abiding is not a contract for services. It is living fellowship with the living Lord. He speaks and we answer. He commands and we obey. He comforts and we rest. He corrects and we yield. He provides and we give thanks. We bring him our weakness, and he supplies strength, so that his power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). We bring him our fears, and he gives peace that guards hearts and minds in him (Philippians 4:7). We bring him our ordinary hours, and he fills them with his purpose, so that whether we eat or drink, we do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). 

This fellowship draws the whole person. The mind is renewed so that we discern the will of God (Romans 12:2). The heart is enlarged to love the brothers and sisters with sincere affection (1 Peter 1:22). The hands become ready for good works which God prepared beforehand (Ephesians 2:10). The tongue learns to bless and to speak truth in love. The eyes are set on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of faith (Hebrews 12:2). 

The promise and the end 

Our Lord joins command to promise. “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit” (John 15:5). The Father is glorified by much fruit, and much fruit grows from much abiding (John 15:8). None who abide will be barren. The Gardener is wise, the Vine is living, and the sap does not fail. To remain in Christ is to remain where grace is at work. 

So, begin where you are. Open the Scriptures and ask to meet the Speaker. Pray with the Bible open and your life open. Yield to the Spirit in the next act of obedience before you. Keep company with the saints. Come to the Table with faith. Confess quickly. Give thanks often. When you fall, get up and run home. Abide in him and he will abide in you. And in due season the fruit will appear, not because you forced it into being, but because the life of the Vine has found a ready branch. 

In Christ’s service,

~JFH