John 15

“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” (v5).  Jesus said that the quality of our relationship with him would be marked not just by believing in his words, but by abiding in his love (v9). When his love is central to our lives, both filling us and guiding our behavior, we will “obey his commandments” (v10) and “bear much fruit.”  Without this deepening relationship, we are like a branch that is cut off from its life source and dies (v2).

Jesus told us these things so that “your joy may be full” (v11).  Being rooted in God’s love and extending it to others is the way to experience a joyful life.