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Abide in Christ

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작성자 한미연합감리교회
조회 1,145회 작성일 21-10-02 16:01

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If the goal of our journey is to make disciples of Jesus, we must first learn how to 
abide in Christ. That is, before we can make healthy disciples, we must first be a 
healthy disciple. This truth became clear to me one night when Amber and I were 
with a group of friends who felt called to plant a church with us. While we talked about 
how to reach certain people groups and discussed strategies for bringing the gospel 
to them, one of our group members named Protus spoke up. He’s a great friend of mine 
from Kenya and he made a powerful statement during that discussion: 
“If we are not first in prayer and in close relationship with Jesus, then we have nothing 
to bring our neighbors.” Oh, how true that is! The church must first press into 
Jesus Christ. Before we can effectively minister to anyone around us, we must be 
in close relationship with Jesus who will fill us with his grace and mercy as we 
extend grace and mercy to others. 
The first protective guardrail is to abide in Christ. This skill is not always easy to 
understand, even after years in ministry. When I hear “abide in Christ” I still 
sometimes think of a pristine park where I am supposed to be sitting in some deep, 
meditative state. Although there is nothing wrong with a practice like this, it doesn’t 
give us the whole picture. We can understand abiding more completely by looking at 
the agricultural concept of grafting branches. Grafting branches from one grape vine 
to another is common practice in developing a thriving vineyard. Winemakers use this 
process to cultivate healthier plants by removing a branch from a vine that is susceptible 
to disease, and joining it to a disease resistant vine. They also use grafting to protect 
branches from insects that may damage the root system of one vine but will avoid 
another. The grafting process produces more abundant and higher quality fruit. 
Jesus gives us an incredible metaphor of a vine and branches to represent our 
relationship with him in John 15. Much like branches that are grafted to a vibrant 
vine in order to produce better grapes, we are grafted to Christ who is our life-giving 
vine. A branch flourishes and produces fruit when it remains connected to a healthy 
vine. We too will flourish and become fruitful when we remain in close relationship 
with Christ, our source of spiritual health and life.

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