Remain to Grow
It may seem counterintuitive, but God says that true growth doesn’t come by roaring ahead with massive strides, but instead, by REMAINING in Jesus.
“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
In John 15:4 Jesus says, “Remain in me”.
It is not your job to arrive somewhere; it is your job to remain in Him.
To remain means: “stay”, “lodged”, “source of life”.
Theologian Charles Ellicott says: “The man who lives without faith in God may be said to exist, rather than to live and misses the true aim of His being.”
Could it be true? All we have to do to accomplish our destiny is sit still? Remain.
When we remain in Him, we connect with the very nature of God, our source of life – and our nature is transformed into His likeness. The nature of any person is captured in the mind. The nature of God is the same as the mind of God.
We have been given the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:16 says “…But we have the mind of Christ.”
How does the Bible describe the mind of Christ?
A humble learner. A humble receiver. A humble rester. A humble listener.
While Jesus was on Earth, He said, “For everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” – John 15:15
As you learn to think like Jesus – you take on the humble posture of a learner and you are enabled to:
Receive and accept feedback
Relinquish control
No longer afraid to make mistakes
No longer afraid to take risks
Always asking questions, slow to give answers
Accept feedback
No longer attaching your identity to your performance.
When we R E M A I N in Him, we become the most powerful learners and idea generators and world shakers for His Kingdom.
