Remain

“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.”

– Jesus (John 15:4)

My wife and I are avid Fringe viewers.  A few weeks ago, one episode really illustrated John 15:4 for me.

The episode, titled Johari Window, involved a town of people who have, for generations, been stricken with a physical deformity as a result of a government experiment.  The townspeople hide their physical deformity from outsiders through a massive electromagnetic pulse that runs through the town.  The pulse causes them to look normal; however, once they leave town and are out of the pulse’s reach, their true deformities show.

As I read John 15 the other day while writing a post about being pruned, I dawned on me – as Christ Followers, we are just like those townspeople.  At our core, we were disfigured in the eyes of God – our appearance had been spoiled by sin.  The only remedy for that disfigurement was Jesus.  It was only through His sacrificial death on the cross, our recognizing our disfigured appearance before Him because of our sin, and our making the life-changing choice to believe in Him and receive the free gift of salvation from Him that we were made acceptable or presentable to God.

As John 15:4 says, it’s only by remaining in Jesus – living a life that worships and brings glory to Him – that we fulfill our true purpose as His children.

Once disfigured by sin, now presentable by grace.

Remain.

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– Images from FringeFiles.com.