From Thorns to Fruit: How Abiding in Christ Severs Sin’s Power
Have you ever noticed how something harmful can slip into your life unnoticed, blending in until it begins to choke the good? I noticed this recently when an invasive vine crept into our shrubs
“Look,” I said, pointing across our yard. “A vine has invaded our shrubs. It will choke our plants.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Larry said.
A week later brown vines threaded through the green. “You took care of the vine. Thank you.”
While planning his attack on this widespread parasite, Larry located the vine’s main stem and severed it. Within a week, the invasive branches no longer posed a threat to the health of our shrubs, but their ugly remains still needed to be removed—hopefully without damaging the shrub.
We didn’t intentionally let those vines grow. They blended in with the shrubs. Like those invasive vines, sin can slip in as a small sprout. If left to grow it invades our whole being and chokes the spiritual life from us. As the Bible warns, sin causes death (James 1:15-16).
Death means separation. Just as with physical death the soul separates from the body, in daily life sin separates us from the life and power of Christ. It also distances us from one another and robs us of the joy and peace we once knew when living in fellowship with Christ.
In severing the root, Larry killed each life-draining fiber, even the hidden ones. This will make them easier to remove, but because they were allowed to invade so much of our shrubs, we still have work to do. Similarly, we can spend our days attacking individual sprouts of sin, such as temper outbursts, envy, pride, fear, anger, lack of self-control—or we can address their root.
As a bad vine produces brambles and thorns, so a good vine produces good fruit (Matt. 7:15-20).
How Abiding in Christ Produces Good FruitWhen we place our faith in Jesus we become new creations in Christ—the old has passed away and the new has come (2 Cor. 5:17). However, indwelling sin remains very much alive (Romans 6-7). We were crucified with Christ and born again with a new nature that loves God and wants to please Him. But while we live in this body, the parasite of indwelling sin sends forth branches that sap our strength and produce the ugly deeds of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21).
To counter sin, we must stay rooted and grounded in God’s love (Ephes. 3:16-19).
Abiding in Christ, the True VineJesus said, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5 NASB).
Having Jesus be a part of my life is not the same as making Him Lord of my life. For Him to be our Lord, we must surrender every aspect to Him. His Holy Spirit is then free to gently correct and lead us into truth.
Romans 6:11 (NASB) says, “Consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Sin didn’t die at our spiritual birth, but we died to sin (Rom. 6:1-7). We experience freedom from sin’s power by considering ourselves dead to sin’s demands and enticements.
Instead of chasing the thorns, we focus on abiding in Christ and His love. We continually ask the Holy Spirit to fill us. We renew our minds with His word— not only reading it, but absorbing it, living it, and putting it into practice.
The root of the vine Larry severed may still live in the ground. But our shrubs are separated from it. Sin is still very much alive, but Jesus cut the connection. It no longer rules over us unless we give it power. The power of sin lies in our caving into its urges and promises. When we stay connected to Jesus through His Spirit and His Word, we cut sin’s power over us.
Abiding in Christ Through the SpiritWhose power am I relying upon to live the Christian life—my own strength or the power of the Holy Spirit? Romans 6:16 says we’re slaves of the one we obey.Whose promptings am I habitually obeying—sin’s or the Holy Spirit’s? The more I obey Christ, the easier it becomes to recognize the early sprouts of sin and cut them off before they take root.“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. … But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Gal. 5:15, 22-23 NASB).
Like my shrubs, our souls thrive when we stay connected to the True Vine. Jesus has already severed sin’s power. Our role is to abide in Him, drawing life and strength from His Spirit, so that His fruit—not sin’s thorns—grows in us.
From Thorns to Fruit: How Abiding in Christ Severs Sin’s Power #faith, #hope
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Blessings,
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