Day 6: In Christ Jesus, I Can Do All Things!

For those who are familiar with the Bible, there’s an often-quoted verse in John 15:5 when Jesus said, “for without me, you can do nothing.” This statement by Jesus is, in fact, true and the truth. But as Christ-believers, we should not only focus on this particular snippet of the entire verse; we need to dissect the whole context of what Jesus was stating to extract its very essence.

In John 15:1-8, Jesus revealed to His disciples that He is the true vine and the Father as the vinedresser (15:1), and His and the Father’s desire is for every branch to bear fruit and more fruit (15:2). For the branch to bear fruit, it only needed to abide in the vine (Jesus); otherwise, it cannot bear fruit of itself (15:4).

Then, the pivotal 5th verse:

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

While it is true that without Jesus no one can do anything, realize and believe that a born-again Christian has been birthed as a new creation and seeded with the resurrection power of the risen Christ (1 Pet 1:3). This means that as Jesus is right now, seated at the right hand of the Father, so are we – believers – who are in Christ in this world (1 John 4:17), empowered, able and capable to do all things. Paul also affirms this truth in his writing to the Philippians (4:13):

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

So now, let us be reminded always: because we are in Christ and Christ is in us, we can do all things! So let’s do it… all for His glory! Amen.