John 15:4
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.
Snow White wasn’t given the bad apple from a branch that was discarded on the forest floor. The Queen most definitely picked it from a healthy apple tree before cursing it and giving it to Snow White. The movie doesn’t follow the plot line about where the apple came from, but we all know that healthy trees and plants produce healthy fruit. How do we bear this spiritual fruit?
Abide isn’t a word we use often. I love it though, as its formality invokes the importance of being with Jesus. Other translations use “remain”, which is certainly OK. This concept, of abiding, drives home the point that we must be growing, caring, and committed followers of Jesus in order to bear fruit. Only through that kind of relationship with God can we be spiritually healthy.
Written by Dan Jenkins
Prayer prompt: Lord Jesus, through the reading of your Word and with the accountability of brothers and sisters in Christ, help me to bear fruit. Let me be more spiritually healthy now than I was last year. Help me to abide in you and follow you daily.
Daily Reading: John 7:32-53 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)
Click or tap here to watch a brief video overview of the first half of John’s gospel.
Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the New Testament in a Year