Abiding in Christ

ABIDING IN CHRIST (JOHN 15 "I am the vine , you are the branches he who abides in Me , and I in him

he bears much fruit for apart from Me you can do nothing (John 15 :5 )1

The above passage from John 15 teaches us how to live according to the Word of Jesus . The vine signifies Jesus , and the branches metaphorically signify His followers . Branches emanate from the main figure , hence this passage intends to represent that all lives originate from Him , and that once a branch is severed from the main

vine , the branch can not survive because of the lack of water and nutrients . This also happens spirituality when an individual separates himself from the teachings of Jesus Christ , that his spirit figuratively dies when he is not connected with Jesus Christ in terms of living a life based on His works

A personal reflection on this passage may involve our obsession with working very hard in to earn a lot of money . As human beings , it is of natural instinct that we would want all the good things around us such as a nice house , car , clothes , food and extra money to splurge on anything that fancies our interest . However , we all know that one has to work twice as hard in to earn such a huge amount of money , so we tend to keep on working long hours everyday . We would even use up the weekends for work , in to have more time to finish up the work However , there are also consequences to these kinds of action . For a working father , spending extra time in the office means decreasing the time he spends with his wife and growing kids . He won 't be present during his son 's games or her daughter recitals . The wife would tend to bring up the children all by herself , instead of having a partner by her side most of the time . Working during weekends also means there will be no time to go to church to give thanks and praise to the Lord . So yes the father earns the money he has aimed for and dreamed of , but then he comes home like a stranger , wherein his kids really don 't know him and the father doesn 't know his children anymore , or what they are currently going through at their specific ages . The wife could have found new friends outside the household so she could spend some time every now and then to relax and unwind

The John 15 passage explains that all decisions and actions should be based on His teachings , so that no one goes astray . Working hard is good , but if it is done for the wrong reasons that are not parallel to His teachings , suffering may occur . Each of us should understand that suffering is meant to awake us and make us reconsider our actions and decisions in everyday life . As a student , my main responsibility is to excel...