Now go back to John 15:10, where Jesus says, "If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love." Here we find the keywords that explain the meaning of the Vine and the branch. What are they? "As I"! "Do this as I"! These two words will answer every question a person might have regarding the Christian experience. "How can I bear this?" "As I". Jesus answers every one of our questions with "As I"! Hebrews 4:15 says He "was in all points tempted like as we are, yet with out sin," and therefore can answer all our questions with "As I."
Do you see that abiding in the Vine is all about abiding in the same way that Jesus abided in the Vine? Jesus abided in--trusted--His Father, no matter what was going on. He trusted regardless of whether it was a Gethsemane or a Calvary. As He faced the unknown of the tomb, and in fact couldn't see beyond it, He kept right on trusting. Humanly speaking, this level of trusting was impossible--Gethsemane was so bad that it brought blood to Jesus' brow, and He collapsed and would have died had an angel not been sent to strengthen Him.
Why was Jesus able to endure? Because He was abiding in the Vine. And what was this revealing? Character, His unshakable character! Could circumstances change His character? Yes, it could have, but it didn't. Could circumstances change His character? Yes, it could have, but it didn't. Could environment change His character? It could have, but again, it didn't! Nothing could change His character. And so Jesus said, Abide ...."even as I." Love "even as I." This was the great lesson!
Jesus didn't simply say, "Here is a good story," or "Here is an illustration." No, He very specifically said, "I am the Vine, ye are the branches. As I have been abiding in my Father and completely depended on Him, so you must do the same thing. "As I." When Jesus came to this world and lived as a branch, He was continually abiding in His Father. In our day, Jesus is the Vine and we are the branches; and we are to receive from Him as He received from His Father. How did He do it? He looked to His Father.
Just think of the difference going to our Vine would make with our frustrations? It would completely eliminate them! What do we normally do? We go to some friend and say, "What in the world am I going to do? Jesus says, "Do what I did!"--that is His answer, and His answer is always so simple. You find the same thing when Jesus said, "Ye are clean through the word that I have spoken unto you."
Yes, it is simple, but we are a stiff-necked people just like Israel of old. Hard to catch on or if we catch on we are too stubborn to accept the simple remedy. I am speaking of myself. Right now, I am having difficulty with this because I have been taught all my life that I can do something to help save me. But that is a lie, we can do nothing to save ourselves, we must trust in the Vine, Jesus, and let Him put His character in me, or His fruit in me. We can't even do anything to save others except share our fruit with them. Wow! What a challenge, but as I said I like challenges so I better get with it and surrender all my problems to the Problem Solver and live in peace and joy and love. If you have forgotten what the fruit is, check it our again and it would do us all well, if we would memorize these fruits, so we know what to expect when He starts purging us and making room in our lives for the fruits of the Spirit. Grandma Joan.
PS. Check out Galatians 5:22,23..
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