Linked to the Vine

Abiding in Christ can sometimes feel like one of the hardest things to do. We might know that it’s what we need, but the rush of life pulls us into its stream, and it all feels too hard. Following God can seem like the biggest burden ever, especially for those badgered by someone trying to get them to follow Jesus. This kind of religion can feel like drudgery because it’s all about external actions rather than what’s in the heart. Nothing could be further from what God desires, which is a relationship whose foundation is mutual love, not just rules; a chosen relationship (in which He first chose you) based on love and free choice.

Sometimes we might be partly connected to the Vine but not really abiding with every fiber of our being. We might go to church, pray, and do what we know is right, but inside we feel shriveled up. The truth is this: we can’t make ourselves abide in Jesus any more than a branch can make itself connect to a vine. God loved us first; He made the first move. Our response is always a reaction to what God has first done for us.

If you, meanwhile, look at how a grapevine survives through winter, you’ll learn a fascinating fact—the buds on the branches become dehydrated and isolated from the growing system until spring. When the soil warms up, the roots absorb water, and sap flows up through the trunk of the vine into the buds and then initiates growth. Without the sap flowing through the vine, no growth will happen.

The sap in a grapevine is like the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We might be like a dead branch, but when we choose to spend time with God, the Holy Spirit enters into us like the sap from the roots and brings us to life so that we start to grow. In the same way that we need to make a conscious choice to want to abide in Jesus, we must also ask for the Holy Spirit (the sap) to flow into our lives.

It’s actually the Holy Spirit who brings growth and ensures that we’re thriving and connected to the Vine. We need to ask daily for the Holy Spirit, who is here with us on earth to:

• be our Comforter (John 14:16–18),
• reveal Jesus to us (John 15:26),
• convict us of sin (John 16:7, 8), and
• guide us into all truth (John 16:13).

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Additional Reading: Selected Quotes from Ellen G. White

The character of the Christian is shown by his daily life. Said Christ, “Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit” (Matthew 7:17). Our Saviour compares Himself to a vine, of which His followers are the branches. He plainly declares that all who would be His disciples must bring forth fruit; and then He shows how they may become fruitful branches. “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” (John 15:4).
The apostle Paul describes the fruit which the Christian is to bear. He says that it “is in all goodness and righteousness and truth” (Ephesians 5:9). And again, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22, 23). These precious graces are but the principles of God’s law carried out in the life.
The law of God is the only true standard of moral perfection. That law was practically exemplified in the life of Christ. He says of Himself, “I have kept my Father’s commandments” (John 15:10). Nothing short of this obedience will meet the requirements of God’s Word. “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked” (1 John 2:6). We cannot plead that we are unable to do this, for we have the assurance, “My grace is sufficient for thee” (2 Corinthians 12:9). As we look into the divine mirror, the law of God, we see the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and our own lost condition as transgressors. But by repentance and faith we are justified before God, and through divine grace enabled to render obedience to His commandments.
Those who have genuine love for God will manifest an earnest desire to know His will and to do it. . . . The child who loves his parents will show that love by willing obedience; but the selfish, ungrateful child seeks to do as little as possible for his parents, while he at the same time desires to enjoy all the privileges granted to the obedient and faithful.
The same difference is seen among those who profess to be ­children of God. Many who know that they are the objects of His love and care, and who desire to receive His blessing, take no delight in doing His will. They regard God’s claims upon them as an unpleasant restraint, His commandments as a grievous yoke. But he who is truly seeking for holiness of heart and life delights in the law of God, and mourns only that he falls so far short of meeting its requirements.—Reflecting Christ, p. 96.