Seasons of Growth: Part 2- Abiding in His Love

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing…

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.
Abide in my love.”

John 15:5, 9 ESV

As we wait in our seasons of dormant winters, anticipating our next season, we must remember that God is always caring for us. He is still working out His plan. During these seasons of stillness, how will our hearts respond? Will we rest in His perfect love? Do we still believe His promises are true? Can we be sure that the Master Gardener is pruning, feeding and tending our hearts through every circumstance? Are we abiding in Him?

“There is no condition of life that we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed.”

Oswald chambers

Somewhere along the way, we have been deceived into thinking that OUR doing is the most important aspect of our being. We think our ability to “bloom” is how we prove our significance to the world around us. We believe that our productivity is the determining factor of our worthiness or value. In our minds, our identity is defined by what we do.

This falsehood causes us to become uncomfortable with being still. As a result, we end up over committing ourselves and attempt to do it all. Relying on our own strength we try harder, organize better, and scour the internet for those hacks on how to schedule more hours into the day. Our attempts to maintain perpetual production causes us to become miserable, anxious, and stressed out. We see what everyone else is doing, yet struggle to keep up which causes us to become discontent with ourselves: our season, our time.

“A flower does not think of competing to the flower next to it.

It just blooms.”

Zen shin

This mentality will eventually lead to burn out. Being human, we were never created to live this way. God gave the Israelites the command to remember the Sabbath, and in Exodus 34:21 He tells them, “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.” Jeremiah 8:7 says, “Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration.” In chapter 1 of Psalms the man or woman of God is compared to a tree that bears its fruit in season. These verses remind us that everything in creation, including us, have seasons of activity and seasons of rest.

I Corinthians 7:17 says, “Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him.” This verse reminds us that we were created for a specific purpose. God, in His infinite creativity, has made every person to bloom in their own unique way and to bear their own fruit-in season. A daffodil never tries to be a tulip. An apple tree never produces grapes. Each has their set time to produce their determined fruit or flower. Our comparisons and competitions with each other should stop. Let us cease our striving to ALWAYS be blooming and to quit trying to bear fruit not our own. We are to be who God made us to be.

In John 15:5, Jesus tells us we will not only bear fruit, but we will bear MUCH fruit, if we abide in Him. He is the source; He is our strength. Yes, He desires our lives to bloom and bear fruit, but not forced by our continual efforts. It is in His time and through Him alone.

The idea of “abiding” occurs many times in Scripture. Jesus tells us over and over to abide.

• “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples…” John 8:31
• “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.” John 15:10
• “These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” John 15:17
• “Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.” I John 3:24

ABIDE (verb)
to remain; to continue; to wait

to have one’s abode; dwell; reside

to continue in a particular condition attitude, relationship; to last

When Jesus calls us to follow Him, it is an invitation to an intimate relationship with Himself, not a life of proving our worth. He laid down His life as a sacrifice and offers ALL He is to us. Will we offer ALL of ourselves to Him? His Spirit resides within us. Have we made Him our dwelling? Can we rest and be still, knowing that He is God?

We only discover our true selves through the Truth of who Jesus is. He graciously tends the soil of our hearts, digging down, pulling weeds and planting the seeds to bring forth His fruit. This is all part of our growth process. Every gardener knows that a bountiful harvest is preceded by times of rest and preparation. The tilling, planting, feeding–the WAITING–all are needed to bring about the reward of beautiful blooms or abundant fruit.

“Abiding in Jesus is trusting that He really is loving us at every moment and that everything He has revealed about Himself and our future is true.”

John Piper

Whatever season we find ourselves in, we are to continue believing, obeying, trusting and depending on Jesus. This is what it means to abide in Him. Growth is a process; it takes time, and it is not always visible.

In 2 Peter we read:

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 1:3-8 (NIV)

The ESV replaces the word “unproductive” with “unfruitful”. Jesus promises a result. Abiding in Jesus will bring forth fruit in our lives. He is the Vine that sustains our very life, and He produces the fruit. The fruit we bear is the Fruit of the Spirit–Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control. As our desire grows to BE with Jesus, we are fed by His Word, watered through His Spirit, and transformed into His likeness more and more. Gratitude, for who Jesus is and for all that He has done, is now our motivation. No longer tied to how we bloom, our identity is now based in who we are–one who is secure in Christ and abiding in His Love through every season.

“Let each day be motivated from your calling to abide in Christ. As its light opens on your waking eyes, accept it on these terms: A day, just one day only, but still a day, given to abide and grow up in Jesus Christ. Whether it is a day of health or sickness, joy or sorrow, rest or work, of struggle or victory, let the chief thought with which you receive it in the morning with thanksgiving be this:

"A day that the Father gave; in it I may, I must become more closely united to Jesus. As the Father asks, 'Can you trust me just for this one day to keep you abiding in Jesus, and Jesus to keep you fruitful?' you cannot but give the joyful response: 'I will trust and not be afraid.'"  

Andrew Murray from Abide in Christ- 1968