This is such a well-known verse that I hesitate to add my own thoughts to all of the excellent material that’s been written about it. But I’ve found myself thinking about this verse quite bit the last couple of weeks so for my own sake, I’m going to dig into what God has to teach me about it. I’m a little disappointed that the NIV quoted above uses the word “remain” instead of “abide”. For some reason, when I hear the word “abide” it seems more peaceful to me, like the person is more at rest. I read somewhere that when it comes to grapevines, the branches do nothing. It’s the vine that pushes the sap into the branches to feed them. All the branch has to do is stay connected in order to receive all that is needed. I love that picture! All we have to do is stay connected to Jesus and we’ll be fed in every way: physically, emotionally, spiritually. That, to me, is a wonderful picture of abiding.
What happens if we disconnect ourselves from the vine? According to this verse, we can do nothing. The word translated “nothing” is actually two words in the Greek. One of the words refers to emptiness, like a material or physical emptiness. The other refers to people. So this is saying that if we are disconnected from the vine, it impacts us physically and relationally. Both our physical situation and our relationships start to slide down a very slippery slope. Here’s the picture I have in my mind: either we are at rest, abiding in the vine, being fed and through that feeding, somehow producing fruit. Or we are separated from the vine, which causes us to slide further away from Jesus every day. On our downward slide away from Him, we also slide away from other people. We find ourselves working harder and harder to produce a crop that we simply can’t produce by ourselves so frustration builds, exhaustion sets in, and we begin to shrivel.
My family currently finds itself in a situation that has different ones of us asking at different times, “How much longer can we keep doing this?” The answer is that we can’t. Whatever God is calling you to do, whatever situation you’re in can only be handled by abiding in Him. Then He will give us what we need. Has anyone ever seen a vine that gives the branch all the sap it’s going to need all at one time? Of course not. The vine only gives enough sap for this day, this minute. A young vine that’s just beginning to grow will receive enough sap to continue that growth. Later will come enough to produce grapes. If that young vine started looking ahead to grape production, it could easily get overwhelmed and discouraged. So how much longer can we keep doing this (whatever the “this” is in your life)? I don’t know. I only know that God has given each of us exactly what we need just for today. And that’s enough.