“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

John 15:5 (ESV)

In this era of omnipresent electronic devices, we might imagine “abiding in Christ” is similar to plugging a phone into an outlet. We sit down for our quiet time and ask ourselves, How long do I have to be plugged into God today to get a good spiritual charge? But Jesus never said, “I am the power cord, and you are the cell phone.” No, He says, “I am the vine; you are the branch.”

We don’t get charged up in God in order to unplug and live on our own—until it’s time for the next charge. No. We never disconnect from Him. We are living branches connected to the living Christ. His life is our life. Abiding is living in constant awareness of total dependence on Jesus. It involves a constant flow of life-giving sap from the Holy Spirit—not a spiritual charge that takes us to 80 percent. Abiding in Christ is a 100 percent relationship.

Lord Jesus, I don’t want to deal with life in my own wisdom or power. I don’t want to run on reserve energy. And I don’t want to go out in public with my own life on display before others—what a futility that would be! Lord, I want people to see Your life and Your strength in me at every turn.