3 May 2015 - the remain thing

Remain in me, as I remain in you.

You are with us to the end of time (cf. Mat. 28:20). You remain in us and because you do we are empowered to remain in you. There is no life apart from this. We wither without you. There is nothing left for us but the fire. You want to be our life within us. You want us to bear much fruit. You yourself are the source of that fruit. Without you there is no fruit. Without you we can do nothing. Our life without you, if we really look at the big picture, is nothing. All we accomplish without you is nothing. It is a house built on sand.

When we do remain in you we are pruned by the Father, the vine grower. This is one reason we are tempted to run back to the nothing we have without you. But there are hardships there as well. There is loss. And the pain there does not lead to fruit as this pain does.

You remain with us in your words, in your commandments, because in them you yourself are present to us. We hear, "believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ and love one another". Your presence and your love are the source of our own life. When your word remains in us your command to love gives us the power to love. You yourself love in us. You yourself bear the fruits of the Spirit, especially peace, love, and joy, in our hearts.

No wonder Saul can't shut up about you. You remain with him and your word remains in him. Even before he has a whole lot of your word to go on the core of it, the central part, is enough for him to move heaven and earth to help others to know about you. He has tasted the fruit himself and he wants it for everyone.

He moved about freely with them in Jerusalem,
and spoke out boldly in the name of the Lord.

Let us walk in the fear of the LORD as the early church does. Let us treasure your words, Jesus, and fear to lose them. Let us treasure your power and your life. Let us fear life apart from the vine and so remain in you. When we do we know the fruit and consolation of the Holy Spirit. The Church grows in the Holy Spirit only when you abide in her members and bear fruit.

All the ends of the earth
shall remember and turn to the LORD;
all the families of the nations
shall bow down before him.