^“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”

John 15:4, NIV

One of the definitions of “remain” in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary is “to stay in the same place with the same person or group.” Pretty simple. Or so it would seem.

But any of you who have or have had small children know this is not always so easy. How often have you been in a public place and told your children, “Stay with me,” and yet, you turn around, and they’ve wandered a few feet away, or even to another aisle where you can no longer see them? They have no concept of how dangerous it is to stray from you and the safety of your watchful eye.

We’re a lot like that, you know. We think we can “just go look at this” or “just step over here for a minute,” without thinking how dangerous it is to step away from Jesus. And just like a child who has wandered away from Mom and suddenly realizes he can no longer see her, we look up and realize just how far we’ve wandered from Him. He’s still there, just like the mom on the next aisle. We just can’t see Him at that moment. The difference is, He can still see us, and will patiently wait until we come back.

The Bible says “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (NIV)  are the “fruit of the Spirit.” If we, as branches, are to produce this fruit, we must remain in Him. That means we must stay in the same place with the same person – Jesus! With Him is not only the safest place to be, it’s the only place to be if you wish to bear fruit in your life.

He said so Himself.

“Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” 

Remaining in Him,

Amy