Abiding Instead of Striving

Jesus says, "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." A branch does not strain to produce grapes. It stays joined to the vine, and the life of the vine does the growing.

Most men fighting this struggle have tried the opposite approach, straining harder, resolving more firmly, treating purity as a project of sheer effort. When they fail, they resolve harder still, and the exhaustion mounts. Jesus offers a different arrangement. He says the fruit you want, a clean and faithful life, grows out of staying connected to him rather than out of your own grinding effort. Apart from him, he says honestly, you can do nothing, and many men have proven that sentence true the hard way.

Abiding is quieter than striving. It looks like returning to him through the day, in Scripture, in prayer, in ordinary dependence, and letting his life flow into yours. Ask him to teach you to abide, because you have tried to bear this fruit alone long enough to know it does not work.