4″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.

 5″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.

 6″If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them in the fire…”

When we encounter this passage, we tend to dissect and parse.  There are many questions.  Is my salvation secure or can I lose it?  Who are the branches which are burned? How do we “remain” or “abide”? What do WE have to do?  How do we work this?  Am I DOING the right things?

All these approaches focus on our actions. We examine…