".....without Me you can do nothing....."

Let me just parenthetically say, this is antagonistic to the popular saying: "The Lord helps those who help themselves;" ahhh....not exactly.

These Sage Words Jesus Spoke in John 15:5b are instructional, but what are the instructions and Is Jesus referring to the spiritual things alone, or is He saying we can do NOTHING period? And if He is saying we can do nothing, then how do we explain all those people who live independently without Him and do things (seemingly) just fine?

The first thing to do is to look at the entire passage to get the full spectrum of the message....

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 “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. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples."

Jesus refers to Himself as the "True Vine" and God as the "Vinedresser," and we are the branches. And we cannot bear fruit without Him. This comes through loud and clear, but the question still remains, is this only applicable to the spiritual things? Also noteworthy in verse 2 is the pruning that Jesus does within us, so that we can be more like Him; revealing what things in us we need to get rid of like vanity, self-centeredness, jealousy, pride and so on.....

Verse 3 clearly illustrates the fact that it is HE--Christ Jesus alone who cleanses us of all sin, which further makes His Point that we are helpless without Him.

In verse 4 He reaffirms the fact that we cannot bear fruit without Him, then in 5b we see those words "Without Me you can do nothing."

Verse 6 illustrates how paramount this abiding truly is as it ominously describes the fate of those who do not abide in Him; knowingly, it would appear. Those then must be lost souls, very confused about God's Word or people who give up on their faith and try to go it alone....

Verses 7 and 8 gloriously reaffirm what those who do follow these Divine instructions can expect.

Now back to our original question; what about things in the natural or is Jesus only referring to those things of the spirit?

Other than Scripture, my personal experience is the only means in which I can answer. Whence I tried to live my life through my own strength, power and wisdom, I made so many mistakes, more than I can count, But then I turned all my attention toward Christ; I made Him the center of my life and started bringing Him into everything I did, thought and planned, and thanked Him in everything too. I even learned to thank Him in and through my trials and tribulations.

I think Jesus is saying that everything is better with Him; our lives just go better, things work out for the best when we live for HIM. Further to this end; we cannot please Him through our own works and we know where that leads! Therefore, we cannot do anything worth doing without HIM and we're doomed without Him; therein lies the answer....

"He perfects that which concerns me" (Psalm 138:8);

"He arms me with strength and makes my way perfect" (Psalm 18:32)

And showers us with His Favor and Anointing over most everything we do........a paraphrase of Isaiah 58:11.

Through hanging on the vine, I get over upsets much more quickly or don't even get upset in the first place, stop and think about what I'm going to say to make sure it's godly and kind and, generally speaking, things go much more smoothly.

So how can we explain those who live without Him and life goes just fine? Simple, those who live without Him have no idea what they are missing out on and how much better their lives would be if they would only give themselves over to His Sovereign Majesty.

Conclusion: The spiritual things will not be developed in our lives without Jesus abiding in us (we will be stuck; stagnant) and all else is just not going to be nearly as favorable without Him. We cannot expect to have the Lord's Anointing without abiding in HIM.

Galatians 5:22-25 tells us about the fruit of the spirit which is kindness, gentleness, longsuffering, ect; all the spiritual things that can only be seen through one's contenance, but Jesus is also pointing to the much higher life we can abide in if we would only include Him in every aspect of our lives, so when troubles come we find wisdom and strength (and ordinary days go more like they should......)

Isaiah 40:31 is parallel:

"But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint."

NKJV

Linzy is a certified Bible Counsellor, with countless republications on her viewers blogs, Bible Studies, Ezines and the like. Her portfolio includes, non-fiction articles, short stories for all ages, and Christian poetry.