Sojourn

An authentic Christian is never surprised by a lack of fruitfulness in his or her life, and perhaps of equal importance, in the lives of other Christians. Until we really try to follow Christ we’ve no idea of the power of the world and the flesh to pull us down. Each day should be greeted with humility and a welcoming of the fresh mercies that await us as we have another go at it. To this, the old Oxford don gave us these encouraging words: On the whole, God’s love for us is a much safer subject to think about than our love for Him. Nobody can always have devout feelings: and even if we could, feelings are not what God principally cares about. Christian Love, either towards God or towards man, is an affair of the will. If we are trying to do His will we are obeying the commandment, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.’ He will give us feelings of love if He pleases. We cannot create them for ourselves, and we must not demand them as a right. But the great thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go, His love for us does not. It is not wearied by our sins, or our indifference; and, therefore, it is quite relentless in its determination that we shall be cured of those sins, at whatever cost to us, at whatever cost to Him. ~C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

These words speak to that which we’ve been talking about in John 15. Jesus wants us to bear fruit, yet each of us prove to be needy little branches. We demand a lot of attention. It is somewhat up to us to participate, but thankfully it is not all up to us. The gardener intervenes in our lives to lift us, tend us, prune us, water us and weed around us until the fruit begins to radiate from us.
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Our job in all of this is to: “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  “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.”  ~John 15:4-5

The first word in that passage is our part in fruitfulness – we are to remain. It sounds rather passive. The word in the Greek is: μένω (me’-nō) “Remain” is a fine enough translation of the word, but we can do better. It can also mean “to sojourn.” We speak of sojourning when we are given the opportunity to be in a place we’ve longed to see. For example, I was blessed to sojourn in Ireland for about five weeks a few years back. Sojourning was not a chore. It was a delight. Likewise, if we import that sense into the text we get this: “Sojourn in me, as I also sojourn in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must sojourn in the vine…” I’m a practical sort and try not to give out devotional fluff. What I think this is like is spending time with a person you absolutely adore. It never grows old. The beauty is that there is, in this life and the next, no end to it. Jesus doesn’t have to rush off to some meeting. He is not distracted – even by our distractions. He sojourns with us. And as we return the kindness we get this: “If you sojourn in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit…”