Abide in Me, and I in You...

Jesus said:
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. 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. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you."
John 15:1-7

Wow! In those seven verses, the word ABIDE is mentioned seven times. The context of those verses provides us with a lot of light as to what is required of us by GOD for our eternal salvation.

Jesus said:
"Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few."
Matt 7:13-14

So we must not only ABIDE in Him but we must also strive to enter by the narrow gate. If we do not ABIDE in Him, then it is obvious that we are not on the path to the narrow gate of salvation, but on the path to the wide gate and to eternal destruction.

So Jesus said that if we do not ABIDE in Him (the Vine) then we will be taken away from the Vine by the Father, and will be cast off only to wither, to be gathered, and then to be thrown into the fire and burned.

Now that I have your attention, shouldn't we now find the meaning of the word ABIDE?

The theological meaning of ABIDE is to dwell within. Jesus would come and dwell in us and we likewise in Him. So as long as we do what Jesus requests of us then we are on the path to the narrow gate to salvation. So to assure that we are on right path, Jesus has commanded that we must ABIDE in Him.

What is required in order to have Jesus ABIDE in us and we in Him?

Can we do it:
1. By accepting Him as our own personal Lord and Savior?
No. Where does the Bible say that?

2. By the grace of GOD only? Sola Gracias?
No. Where does the Bible say that?

3. By faith in GOD alone? Sola Fides?
No. Where does the Bible say that?

It is simple common sense that since He commanded that we must do something, then doesn't it stand to reason that He would also tell us how to do it?

Jesus was very clear in what we must do in order to have Him ABIDE in us and we in Him.

He left this command for us in John 6:53-57, and it is the only place in Holy Scripture in which you will find it:
53 "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you (the taken away branch); 54 he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 HE WHO EATS MY FLESH AND DRINKS MY BLOOD ABIDES IN ME, AND I IN HIM. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me."

What does "Truly, truly" mean to you in verse 53? What does "unless" mean?
The body lives because it receives real food sustenance. Starve the body and it will die.
Just as the body needs real sustenance, so does the soul, else it will not bear fruit.
The soul lives by real Divine sustenance, the true presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

Now let us go back to the "Vine and the Vinedresser", and review the true meaning of those verses and their vital importance for our eternal salvation. In doing so, we need to simply ask ourselves a few simple questions and answer them with our own GOD given common sense again.

Who is the Vine?
Jesus the Christ is.

Who takes away some of the branches from the Vine?
GOD the Father does.

Why are some of the branches taken away? 
Because they bear no fruit.

Then why do they not bear fruit?
Because they do not seek sustenance from the Vine.

Why do those branches not seek sustenance from the Vine?
Because the branches that are taken away believe that the sustenance is only a symbol,
and a symbol in itself obviously has no life giving sustenance or nourishment.

"Any one who goes ahead and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God;
he who abides in the doctrine has both the Father and the Son."
2 John 1:9

�
Written by Bob Stanley, August 11, 2006
Updated February 3, 2007

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