Verse of the Day 6/4

Through the Bible - 2 Chronicles 16-18, John 15:18-16:15

 

Good morning,

Yesterday's verse from 1 John stated that for Christians "God abides (lives and remains) in us".

The first passage in John 15 is all about abiding and remaining, in the NIV I counted the word "remain" 12 times in these few verses.  We will go to John 15 for today's verses.

 John 15:4-5 NIV  Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

 ⁵ "Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.
 Romans 12:1-2 speak of being transformed by the renewing of our minds.  We are transformed by abiding, or is it we abide because we've been transformed?  Maybe its both.

My wife Jean and I will be celebrating our 29th anniversary this weekend.  Being together for 29 years (or more for many of you) helps you to learn something of abiding.  It involves loving, believing, trusting, forgiving and persevering through trials.  It not only means abiding in it also involves abiding by.  As Christians this is how it is to be in are Christian lives.  It is the only way that will produce fruit, fruit that will last.

Praise God for His transforming power.  May we all be "constantly abiding".

"The way to express it is that in the Jesus to whom we go in faith the power of the whole Christ-event resides, and that in saving us he not only sets us right with God, but also, so to speak, plugs us in to his own dying, rising, and reigning. Thus we live in joyful fellowship with him, knowing ourselves justified by faith through his death, and finding therewith freedom from sin's tyranny and foretastes of heaven on earth through the transforming power within us that his dying and rising exerts. This is an over-short statement of an overwhelming truth."

—J.I. Packer

Blessings,
Mike

mikevw@bellsouth.net
mikesvotd.blogspot.com

John 15 (New International Version)

John 15

The Vine and the Branches

 ¹"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ²He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes^[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. ³You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

 ⁵"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. ⁸This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

 ⁹"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. ¹¹I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹²My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command.