Abide in Christ Pt 1: Accept His offer of eternal life
John 15:4-5 9If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
Romans 3:23 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
John 3:16-17 16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him
At the heart of the Christian gospel is not a demand but an offer—God’s gracious invitation to come, believe, and abide. The tragedy of many lives is not that the offer was never made, but that it was never accepted. Jesus does not force Himself upon anyone; He invites. He calls. He offers life.
In John 15:4–5, Jesus says, “Remain in me, as I also remain in you… apart from me you can do nothing.” These words assume something profound: abiding begins with accepting. Before we can remain, we must first come. Before we can bear fruit, we must first be joined to the Vine.
These writings have an assumption: The title “I Love God, Now What?” is no accident because I’ve assumed all along that the reader has come to know Jesus, but doesn’t understand what to do about that. But maybe these thoughts will help you guide a friend or family member.
You can’t abide if you don’t begin
Jesus’ command to “remain” or “abide” presupposes a starting point. No one accidentally drifts into union with Christ. There must be a conscious turning, a deliberate beginning. In John 15:4–5, Jesus paints a vivid picture: “No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.” Notice the order. A branch must first be connected before it can remain connected. Spiritual life begins with attachment to Christ through faith. This is where John 3:16–17 becomes foundational:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
The offer is universal—whoever believes. But the benefit is conditional—whoever believes. Salvation is offered freely, but it must be received personally. Many people admire Jesus. Some respect His teachings. Others appreciate Christian morality. But admiration is not abiding. Respect is not relationship. Agreement is not attachment.
For the ordinary person reading this: have you actually begun? Not: “I grew up in church.” Not: “I believe in God.” These kinds of statements are lies from Satan. A person can spend a lifetime sitting n the last pew or corner chair and still find no relationship with Jesus. If a person can’t honestly say, “I have personally trusted Christ,” then that salvific recognition of Jesus hasn’t happened yet. And there is a specific moment—sometimes dramatic, sometimes quiet—when the soul turns toward Christ and says, “I need You.” That moment is the beginning of abiding. If you have never begun, Jesus’ invitation still stands. The Vine is alive. The offer is still open.
If you don’t begin, your life is only what you see
Without Christ, life is confined to the visible, the measurable, and the temporary. This is the quiet tragedy of human existence apart from God. Romans 3:23 states the universal condition:
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Paul does not single out the immoral or the obviously broken. He says all. The religious, the successful, the kind neighbor, the outwardly moral—every person has fallen short. What does this mean practically? It means that without Christ, our horizon is limited to what our eyes can see. Have you noticed? Success becomes our highest goal, comfort becomes our greatest pursuit; fear of loss becomes our constant companion.
When Jesus says, “apart from me you can do nothing,” He is not saying people cannot achieve things. Clearly they can. People build companies, raise families, and accomplish impressive feats. But spiritually—eternally—apart from Him, nothing of lasting value is produced. A life that never begins with Christ becomes trapped in the visible world. It becomes Busy but not fruitful, active but not alive, and full but not fulfilled.
Many ordinary people today are exhausted not because they are doing too little, but because they are doing everything without the Vine. If your life feels like you are constantly striving, or feel a recurring emptiness, or find that your achievements that don’t satisfy, it may be that you are living only within what you can see. Christ offers more than improved behavior. He offers a new source of life.
What you see is not what you get
One of the enemy’s oldest strategies is convincing people that the visible world is the whole story. Scripture repeatedly challenges that assumption. From the outside, a Christless life can look perfectly fine: you may have steady job, decent family, and a respectable reputation, but Jesus warns that appearances can deceive.
In John 15, fruit is the evidence of true connection. Leaves can look healthy for a while. Branches can appear normal. But eventually the absence of life shows. Likewise, John 3:16–17 reminds us that eternal realities are already in motion. Belief or unbelief is not merely a future issue—it is a present spiritual condition. Many people assume: “I’m doing okay,” or “My life looks fine” “I don’t see any problem.” But Scripture gently exposes the deeper truth: what we see on the surface is not the full reality. Paul’s statement in Romans 3:23 again levels the field—all have sinned. The most put-together life and the most visibly broken life share the same fundamental need.
For the average reader, this is both sobering and hopeful. Sobering—because outward stability does not equal inward life. Hopeful—because you do not have to fix everything before coming to Christ.
You may look fine on the outside and still feel spiritually dry, quietly anxious, and strangely empty. That inner awareness may be the Holy Spirit gently drawing you toward the Vine. Accepting His offer is not an admission of failure—it is an awakening to reality.
What you get is the absence of God
This is the hardest truth, but also the most loving warning Scripture gives. If Christ is life, then separation from Him is the absence of life. Jesus states plainly: “Apart from me you can do nothing.” Notice He does not say, “you can do less,” He says, “you can do nothing.”
The ultimate consequence of refusing Christ is not merely moral struggle or emotional emptiness—it is separation from the life of God. John 3:17 tells us why Jesus came:
“God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
God’s heart is rescue, not rejection. Salvation, not condemnation. But the offer must be received. Where Christ is rejected, the absence of God remains. That absence shows up in everyday ways long before eternity: we may find success but have no peace; relationships without depth; pleasure without satisfaction; activity without purpose. And the result is an awareness that something is missing. Many people try to fill this absence with achievement, or drugs, or sex, or entertainment, or relationships, or religion.
But none of these reconnect the branch to the Vine. Only Christ does. If you are an ordinary person reading this, here is the gentle but urgent question: Have you accepted His offer? Notice the question doesn’t ask, “Do you attend church?” or “Do you believe God exists?” or “Do you try to be good?” the question asks, Have you personally trusted Christ and come to Him for life? The beautiful promise of the gospel is that the moment you do, everything changes at the root.
The branch is connected
The life begins to flow
The fruit begins to grow
The presence of God is restored
What about me?
The message of Scripture is wonderfully simple and profoundly urgent: You cannot abide if you never begin; without beginning, life is limited to what you see; what you see is not the full story; and without Christ, the deepest reality is the absence of God. But the good news shines brightly through it all.
“Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Notice again—whoever. That includes the religious and the skeptical, the steady and the struggling, the confident and the weary. For someone building a life this truth remains the foundation beneath every spiritual insight: Abiding begins with accepting.
If you have already trusted Christ, the call is to remain—daily dependence, daily focus, daily renewal. If you have not yet begun, the invitation is still open today. The Vine is living. The offer is real. And the door of grace remains wide open.