The fact that we need Jesus goes without saying. We need Him for salvation, that’s the gospel but the need doesn’t stop with salvation. If after coming to Jesus, we aspire to build the Kingdom, if our heart yearns to do anything great for God, we still need Jesus. He boldly declared in John’s gospel that apart from Jesus, disconnected from the vine, we can do nothing. We have been looking at ‘vine life’ the past couple of podcasts and this week is no different. In studying further along this line, I ran into this tremendously insightful testimony. This gentleman declared that two years ago, worn out by three years of spiritual battle, I found myself asking the question: “Jesus, if Your Spirit abides in me in the person of the Holy Spirit, who is my comforter, why do I so often feel alone and You seem so far away?” What came to me in response were Jesus’ words in Jn. 15:5: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
Jesus was saying, “Living spiritually requires something more than just not sinning or doing good works. In order to live in the kingdom of heaven, you must abide in Me. Your identity is in Me.” If I’m not abiding in Jesus, then where is it that I abide? I asked myself.
I began to notice that when I was tired or anxious, there were certain sentences I would say in my head that led me to a very familiar place. The journey to this place would often start with me walking around disturbed, feeling as if there was something deep inside that I needed to put into words but couldn’t quite capture. I felt the “something” as an anxiety, a loneliness, and a need for connection with someone. If no connection came, I would start to say things like “Life really stinks. Why is it always so hard? It’s never going to change.” If no one noticed that I was struggling and asked me what was wrong, I found my sentences shifting to a more cynical level: “Who cares? Life is really a joke.”
Surprisingly, I noticed by the time I was saying those last sentences, I was feeling better. The anxiety was greatly diminished. My “comforter,” my abiding place, was cynicism and rebellion.
From this abiding place, I would feel free to use some soul cocaine—a violent video with maybe a little sexual titillation thrown in, perhaps having a little more alcohol with a meal than I might normally drink—things that would allow me to feel better for just a little while. I had always thought of these things as just bad habits. I began to see that they were much more; they were spiritual abiding places that were my comforters and friends in a very spiritual way; literally, other lovers.
The final light went on one evening when I read Jn. 15:7 in The Message. Peterson translates Jesus’ words on abiding this way: “If you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon.” Jesus was saying in answer to my question, “I have made My home in you, Brent. But you still have other comforters you go to. You must learn to make your home in Me.” I realized that my identity had something to do with simply “staying at home.1 Can you say wow! to this insightful story? We’ll talk a little bit about this and with it dive into the idea of Why You Need Jesus to Accomplish Anything Great. That’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.
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