Except Ye Abide

I read this devotional thought today from Andrew Murray's, "The True Vine." It is free to read or copy from ccel.org. Normally I make my own posts, and only make one per day, but this was too good not to share. So here it is:

EXCEPT YE ABIDE
As the Branch Cannot Bear Fruit of Itself, Except It Abide In the Vine; No More Can Ye, Except
Ye Abide in Me—John 15.4

We know the meaning of the word except. It expresses some indispensable condition,
some inevitable law. “The branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine. No
more can ye, except ye abide in me.” There is but one way for the branch to bear fruit, there
is no other possibility, it must abide in unbroken communion with the vine. Not of itself,
but only of the vine, does the fruit come. Christ had already said: “Abide in me”; in nature
the branch teaches us the lesson so clearly; it is such a wonderful privilege to be called and
allowed to abide in the heavenly Vine; one might have thought it needless to add these words
of warning. But no—Christ knows so well what a renunciation of self is implied in this:
“Abide in me”; how strong and universal the tendency would be to seek to bear fruit by our
own efforts; how difficult it would be to get us to believe that actual, continuous abiding in
Him is an absolute necessity! He insists upon the truth: Not of itself can the branch bear
fruit; except it abide, it cannot bear fruit. “No more can ye, except ye abide in me.”

But must this be taken literally? Must I, as exclusively, and manifestly, and unceasingly,
and absolutely, as the branch abides in the vine, be equally given up to find my whole life
in Christ alone? I must indeed. The except ye abide is as universal as the except it abide. The
no more can ye admits of no exception or modification. If I am to be a true branch, if I am
to bear fruit, if I am to be what Christ as Vine wants me to be, my whole existence must be
as exclusively devoted to abiding in Him, as that of the natural branch is to abiding in its
vine.

Let me learn the lesson. Abiding is to be an act of the will and the whole heart. Just as
there are degrees in seeking and serving God, “not with a perfect heart,” or “with the whole
heart,” so there may be degrees in abiding. In regeneration the divine life enters us, but does
not all at once master and fill our whole being. This comes as matter of command and
obedience. There is unspeakable danger of our not giving ourselves with our whole heart
to abide. There is unspeakable danger of our giving ourselves to work for God, and to bear
fruit, with but little of the true abiding, the wholehearted losing of ourselves in Christ and
His life. There is unspeakable danger of much work with but little fruit, for lack of this one
thing needful. We must allow the words, “not of itself,” “except it abide,” to do their work
of searching and exposing, of pruning and cleansing, all that there is of self-will and selfconfidence in our life; this will deliver us from this great evil, and so prepare us for His
teaching, giving the full meaning of the word in us: “Abide in me, and I in you.”

Our blessed Lord desires to call us away from ourselves and our own strength, to Himself
and His strength. Let us accept the warning, and turn with great fear and self-distrust to
Him to do His work. “Our life is hid with Christ in God!” That life is a heavenly mystery,
hid from the wise even among Christians, and revealed unto babes. The childlike spirit
learns that life is given from Heaven every day and every moment to the soul that accepts
the teaching: “not of itself,” “except it abide,” and seeks its all in the Vine. Abiding in the
Vine then comes to be nothing more nor less than the restful surrender of the soul to let
Christ have all and work all, as completely as in nature the branch knows and seeks nothing
but the vine.

Abide in Me. I have heard, my Lord, that with every command, Thou also givest the
power to obey. With Thy “rise and walk,” the lame man leaped, I accept Thy word, “Abide
in me,” as a word of power, that gives power, and even now I say, Yea, Lord, I will, I do
abide in Thee.

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/murray/true_vine.html