Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” We all want to bear fruit in our lives— the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We all want our lives to change to these qualities.

The wrong way to change is to change without abiding in him—“apart from me, you can do nothing.” We can try to change through fear or pride but both of these things actually nurture selfishness while seeming to make us do the right thing. Moral compliance based on fear or pride is essentially selfish, leading us to darkness in our hearts, and ultimately, depravity in society.

The right way to change is to abide in him. That means that (1) we intentionally make the gospel of Jesus penetrate deep into our hearts, and (2) we develop rhythms of connecting deeply to Jesus through various different spiritual practices.