“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.If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:5-6,8).
How do we know?
How do we know with utter certainty that we are branches of the vine—that we truly are connected to Christ? And how do we show that we are his disciples—his followers?
At first glance, that seems pretty easy to answer from what the apostle John wrote in the verses above, right? If we remain in Jesus and he remains in us, we will bear much fruit. Apart from him, we can do nothing. But in him, what we do—the fruit we bear—shows that we are Christ’s disciples.
In other words: By our fruit, we shall be known.
But what do those fruits look like, and how do we show them to other people?
In one of his letters, John answers that question too. “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18). Elsewhere, James writes, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (James 1:22).
Uh-oh.
It sounds simple enough, but I know my heart. I can’t love other people with my words, much less with my actions and in truth. Not really. Even if by all outward appearances I somehow manage to show some semblance of love to someone, it won’t be done in true, actual love.
Lurking in this dark heart of mine is a terrible fear that even if my actions are outwardly good and pleasing, they’re actually rotten. My sinful heart tells me that I am rotten to the core. I can’t love in action and in truth. By my fruit (or lack thereof), I shall be known and condemned before God, cut off from the vine and thrown into hellfire.
My heart is a liar.
And you, dear Christian, you know your heart as well. If your heart is whispering words of condemnation to you as well, then your heart is a liar too.
We know that we belong to the truth, not because of anything we have or haven’t done but because of Jesus and what he has done for us. We belong to God—and he is greater than our hearts.
God tells the truth in his Word. He cannot lie. He knows everything, and he tells us that we are his dearly loved children. God speaks and he silences the condemning whispers of our hearts. And if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have peace and confidence before our heavenly Father!
How can that possibly be?
We have peace before God because Jesus loved perfectly in action and in truth—for us. He loved us so much that he gave his life for us, and there’s no greater love than his. He has washed us with his blood and has made us clean. Jesus is the reason our hearts cannot condemn us. Jesus is the reason we know we belong to him and can stand before God with confidence.
What’s left for us to do? Absolutely nothing! We’ve been set free from sin to live for Jesus. And now his love for us produces the fruits of faith and love for others in our hearts. His love moves us to live for him, and he lives in us.
God sees our deeds of love shown to others—deeds done in truth and love—and they are as real as real can be. Not because of anything we do by ourselves, but because of Jesus. He is the vine and we are the branches. In him, we bear much fruit.
How do we know that?
Because that’s what God tells us in his Word. And through his Word, God creates faith in our hearts. Faith that looks to him; faith that listens to him, faith that knows Jesus has done all things for us; faith in action that responds by saying, “Thank you, Jesus.”
How can I be sure God loves me? If that burning question has ever been on your heart and mind or a loved one’s, discover God’s deepest heart—his sure and certain love for you—inside Pastor Lynn Wiedmann’s Seeing God’s Heart: The Certainty of His Love for Me.
Alex Brown is the marketing and content copywriter at Northwestern Publishing House. He has his Master of Divinity degree from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary and enjoys reading, writing, and spending time in God’s creation.