Abiding in Him!
John 15:4
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.
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Many people have the notion that the demands of the Old Testament were
hard, so God sent Jesus to ratchet everything down a few notches and pretty
much declare that you could do whatever you liked as long as you didn't
hurt anybody. In reality, however, Jesus came to point out that it was
even harder to obey the Law of Moses than previously thought. Haven't
killed anyone? Great! But have you treated anyone with contempt? If you
have, then you have as good as killed them in your heart and you risk the
fires of hell (Matthew 5:21-22). In other words, so far from abolishing
the Law, Jesus pointed out its full implications and made it clear nobody
could really obey it by themselves. That's the bad news. The good news is
that you don't have to obey it by yourself. As Jesus says in today's
verse, if you are incorporated into him through baptism and faith and if
you stay put and don't leave him by committing grave sin and not repenting
of it -then you will indeed bear the fruits of holiness that you could
never bear on your own. The trick is abiding and the trick to that is
staying with him and his Church when you'd rather not. If you are
struggling with abiding in him today, remember that he is remaining with
you and has more than enough power, love and mercy to help you with
whatever you require to be the person God wants you to be.