“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. I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

John 15:4-5

A stroll through the familiar vineyard of John 15 today, ladies, should refresh our sense of the simplicity of life in Jesus.

Certainly anyone knows, no branch can bear fruit by itself. It has to be attached to the vine. The sap coming from the root system, coursing through the branches, provides what’s needed for fruit production. However, it is also true that the vine needs the branches to raise the fruit up to the sun to ripen.

The spiritual corollary applies. We need to remain in the true vine, Jesus, to produce and ripen spiritual fruit. Jesus wants us, the branches, to ripen and display that fruit so others will see Him.

To be specific, what did Jesus mean by fruit? Various online commentaries (Holman, McGee, and Matthew Henry) agree—Jesus is talking about the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) appearing as Christlike behavior in the believer. The fruit of the Spirit is alive and well in you, the believer. The Spirit will ripen that fruit in you if you remain in Jesus. You will display Jesus in your Christlikeness to those watching.

The problem with us is, we make it so difficult. We set off on our own to accomplish great things for God. All we really need to do is stay attached to the vine and allow the Spirit to shine the light of the Word onto the dormant fruit already present in our souls. Love, joy, peace will blossom. Patience, kindness, goodness will ripen. Faithfulness, gentleness and self-control will burst forth. Your friends will get a taste of Jesus.

Fruitfulness is the end result of remaining in Him, to the glory of God: “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:8). Make this the year, ladies, to display that “simplicity which is in Christ” (Tozer).

Nancy P