Remain in me, and I will 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
There’s an art to making good tea.
You can dip your teabag up and down in the hot water and then pull it out. Or you can let it dwell there so that you can experience the tea’s full strength and flavor.
Jesus said: Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing’ (vv. 4-5).
The secret of victorious Christian living is not ‘dipping’ in God’s presence once a week in church, but ‘dwelling’ in it every day.
That’s why these devotions are a helpful tool for your spiritual growth; they cause you to get into God’s Word each day, meditate on it, and ask, ‘Lord, what are You saying to me?’
When you’re a dipper, you’ve got to ‘make things happen’ by your own effort. You’ve got to move the bag up and down, wrap the string around the spoon, then pull, etc.
That’s a lot of effort – and that’s not how God wants you to live the Christian life. No, He wants you to be a ‘dweller.'
It’s the depth and duration of your dwelling that determines the strength and richness of your spiritual life. So the word for you today is: don’t be a dipper, be a dweller.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me dwell in Your Word and not just dip in it once in a while. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
Blog post by Tim Hetzner/Lutheran Church Charities
