So how do we live by the Spirit? That’s the key question of the Christian life. We cannot do it on our own, we need God to work in us and through us.
In John 15 we find Jesus saying exactly this, and He uses the image of a vine and its branches. He says: “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.
5 “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)[1]
To live by the Spirit means to remain in a condition of connection with Jesus. The Spirit will continually point us to Christ if we let Him. He will help us to talk to Jesus, listen to Him, love Him, obey Him, follow Him etc.. The Spirit loves to point us to Jesus and help us to live as Jesus did during His time on Earth (1 John 2:6).
The critical discipline of the Christian life is to carry an awareness of God with you in every part of life. We are to remain in Him – this means literally to dwell (abide) in Him.
There’s a great theme of abiding that flows through the Bible, but even in the previous chapter we find that God the Father abides in the Son and the Son abides in the Father (Jn 14:10). Not only that, but while Jesus abided with His followers for a time (14:25) the Spirit abides in us (14:17). It is the Spirit who enables us to abide in Christ.
So living by the Spirit means to abide in Christ and allow Him to produce good fruit in our lives. It is to have our whole lives oriented around a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, not excluding Him from any part of who we are or what we do.
More next week!
[1]All Scriptures from The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984.
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