“Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled”
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the agency of the Holy Spirit man becomes a partaker of the divine
nature. He is accepted in the Beloved.
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This union with Christ, once formed, must be maintained. Christ
said, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of
itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in
Me.” This is no casual touch, no off-and-on connection. The branch
becomes a part of the living vine. The communication of life, strength,
and fruitfulness from the root to the branches is unobstructed and
constant. Separated from the vine, the branch cannot live. No more,
said Jesus, can you live apart from Me. The life you have received
from Me can be preserved only by continual communion. Without Me
you cannot overcome one sin, or resist one temptation.
“Abide in Me, and I in you.” Abiding in Christ means a constant
receiving of His Spirit, a life of unreserved surrender to His service.
The channel of communication must be open continually between man
and his God. As the vine branch constantly draws the sap from the
living vine, so are we to cling to Jesus, and receive from Him by faith
the strength and perfection of His own character.
The root sends its nourishment through the branch to the outermost
twig. So Christ communicates the current of spiritual strength to every
believer. So long as the soul is united to Christ, there is no danger that
it will wither or decay.
The life of the vine will be manifest in fragrant fruit on the
branches. “He that abideth in Me,” said Jesus, “and I in him, the
same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.”
When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will
be seen in our lives; not one will be missing.
“My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth
not fruit He taketh away.” While the graft is outwardly united with
the vine, there may be no vital connection. Then there will be no
growth or fruitfulness. So there may be an apparent connection with
Christ without a real union with Him by faith. A profession of religion
places men in the church, but the character and conduct show whether
they are in connection with Christ. If they bear no fruit, they are false
branches. Their separation from Christ involves a ruin as complete as
that represented by the dead branch. “If a man abide not in Me,” said
Christ, “he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather
them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.”