Category: Abiding in Christ

John 15:5 (NKJV) 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

“For without me you can do nothing”.

These are words we need to pay close attention to. They are words very often overlooked by most people, including the church.

Much of what we hear today about how we should live revolves around putting ourselves on one kind of pedestal or another.

We are told that we should put ourselves first, and then worry about others. We are told that many of the problems people experience are due to “low self-esteem”. We are told to “look out for number 1”. And we could build a lengthy list of other such things we are barraged with on a daily basis.

In all of these, it all comes down to me, me, me.

And while God has made us in His own image, and He wants us to prosper and be in good health, we need to remember that without Him, we can do nothing.

This doesn’t mean that we should walk around thinking that we are worthless. On the contrary, we are worth so much that God sent His Son to die for us.

But our worth doesn’t come from ourselves. It comes from God himself. It comes from the fact that He has made us. We didn’t make ourselves. We didn’t breathe life into ourselves. And we surely can’t sustain ourselves without Him. If we think we can, we are fooling ourselves badly.

If we are to be anybody at all, we need to abide in Christ, so that He can abide in us. Did you catch what Jesus said right there? We need to abide in Him so He can abide in us. If we are not abiding in Him, He cannot abide in us. That’s not something we hear much about.

The Gospel has been watered down to the point that it’s more about emotional highs and “warm fuzzies” than it is about this foundational truth of abiding in Him. This is why so many people struggle to “find themselves” and to feel like they’re worth something.

Romans chapter 12 teaches us a lot about being humble and presenting ourselves as living sacrifices, telling us that doing so is our reasonable service to God.

We are also told that nobody should think more highly of himself (or herself) than they ought to think.

Romans 12:3 (NKJV) 3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

Keep God first in everything. Lift Him up in all that we do. Abide in Him, so He can abide in us.

In this we will bear much fruit, and we will find ourselves in the process.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808

401-315-0902

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