Abide in Me
by Ivan Ho 13 July 2025
I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
In the above passage in John 15, the most important word, the word that repeats itself multiple times, isn’t the word “Love”. Rather, it is the word “ABIDE“. The word “abide” simply means “to stay”.
For many, Love is a subjective feeling. Some people are constantly seeking for that “loving feeling”. One day, a person feels “loved”, the next day, his mood changes and he feels unloved. That sort of mindset would extend to their relationship with God so that they need to constantly “feel” God’s love. When things don’t go well, or when God doesn’t seem to answer their prayers, they don’t feel He loves them anymore.
On the other hand, “Abide” or to stay in our relationship with God, is a personal decision, regardless of one’s feelings, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of whether or not God answers our prayers.
Jesus says: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it will be done unto you“. But we have the order upside down: “If God answers my prayers, I stay. If not, I go”.
Jesus also says: “If a man does not abide in me, he will be cast out as a branch and is withered, and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned“. Inevitably, a branch that is not connected to the vine will be withered. A person disconnected from Christ will be cast out into the fire, not because of his sins (assuming that he has repented, and his sins have been forgiven), but because he does not Abide, or stay in Jesus!
You might say: “Jesus wasn’t talking about hell fire”. Well, if Jesus wasn’t talking about hell in John 15:6, how else would you interpret the above verse? Could Jesus be talking about “refining fire” instead? But doesn’t Jesus also say that only those who abide in the vine and bear fruits will be pruned?
The alarming fact about the parable of the vine is that a branch could not have broken off from the vine if it wasn’t connected to the vine in the first place. If one has made the decision to follow Jesus, he needs to continue to abide in Him.
I hear some people say: “Wait a minute, doesn’t our loving father accept the prodigal son despite his waywardness?”. Well, the key to understanding the parable of the prodigal son isn’t just about the Father’s love for his son, but also how the prodigal son eventually comes to his senses and returns home to his father! Our heavenly Father always forgives His children who have gone astray and is willing to welcome them home. But if a person remains unrepentant and never comes back to God through Jesus, he will end up in hell after he dies.
The good news is, no matter how far a man has gone away from God, any moment he decides to come back to his Father, he will be accepted in His Kingdom.
Other people may ask: “How can a loving God send people to hell?”. Unfortunately, their concept of God’s love is misconstrued in thinking that divine love is universal and unconditional, regardless of what a man does and believes. If that was true, everyone in the world goes to heaven and no one will end up in hell no matter how he lives on earth.
If a man doesn’t abide in Jesus on earth, why then would he stay with Him in heaven upon his death?
Jesus says in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life“.
God loves the world and sent Jesus to die for the sins of mankind, but not everyone Jesus died for and forgave will go to heaven. Rather, only he who “believes in Jesus” will have everlasting life. To believe isn’t just to have an intellectual understanding that God exists, but to wholeheartedly believe that Jesus is our Lord and Saviour who died for our sins on the cross and was resurrected three days after! Based on his ongoing faith in Jesus, he enters into an everlasting relationship with Him by the grace of God.
However, if a person, for whatever reasons, decides not to stay in that covenant relationship with our Lord till the end, he would then become detached from Christ. If he no longer believes in Jesus and abides in Him, what will be his eternal destiny?
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: but that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.
God loves us and doesn’t want anyone to perish in hell and that’s why He sent Jesus to die for our sins. By God’s grace, we will remain in Him, till death do we not part!
Jesus went on to say in John 15:10: “If you keep my commandment, you will abide in my love“. The key to stay in God is for us to abide in his love, and the key to abide in God’s love is through our obedience to His words.