SurrenderIhe Atụ

Decide To Abide This reading might not immediately suggest the exercise of surrender to you, in that branches don’t naturally choose their vine. And yet, in Jesus’ story, there appears to be some agency and autonomy, otherwise He needn’t counsel the disciples, “Remain in Me” (v4). And He doesn’t stop there. Jesus continues by laying out the ramifications of both choices: In verses 5 and 7, Jesus explains what happens if they (if we ) choose to abide in Him – we’ll bear much fruit, and He will provide for our requests; in verse 6, He clarifies that if they (if we ) choose not to abide in Him, we’ll be discarded and will shrivel up, and be burned. Strong words. Now, a branch connected to the vine receives nutrients from the vine, very life itself. It is entirely dependent on the vine for its well-being, its fruitfulness. Our surrender to God is a choice to seek nutrients from nowhere else, to seek life from no other source. Lack of complete surrender implies that we seek nutrients, seek life, elsewhere. When put in those terms, this is not merely a question that people currently living independently of Jesus must address. Every Christian – you and I – needs to choose to remain in Jesus. Each of us must decide to abide in Him. Otherwise, the danger, as outlined so graphically by Jesus, is withering, and combustible consumption. Of course, as we remain in Him, we bear much fruit. That involves both ‘character fruit’ – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness, self-control; and great commission fruit – as we replicate ourselves in disciples who replicate themselves in disciples…