We can do Nothing apart from Jesus

One of the profound truth of Christianity is given in John 15:5 "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."

More specifically, the phrase "without Jesus, we can do nothing".

Jesus is the Key
The basic of Christianity is Jesus - having Jesus; connected to Jesus; have a relationship with Jesus. Without Jesus, there is no Christianity.

With Jesus, we can bear much fruit. Fruit is outcomes we achieved through enpowerment by Jesus within. The outcomes and the accomplishments bring glory to God and even to us. God honors us when we obey Him.

With Jesus, we can do any and everything. Phil 4:13.

Without Jesus, we can do nothing.
I used to object. That is not true. I can surely do something without Jesus. Look, I am doing it now. The reason we think we can do something is due to the view point we take - from our own view point, we think can do something useful, even for Jesus! But from God's point of view, any thing that is outside of His plan is nothing - even evil.

We are created by God to be a unique part of His creation. If we don't follow His plan for us, without Jesus, we will be doing our thing and spoiling the great plan of God. It is worse than nothing! The great beauty of the Creation is distorted by us who refuses to play the roles that God has created us for.

In the context, John 15:6 If a man doesn't remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. Vine is meant to produce fruits and not as firewood. Without Jesus, we loose our calling and our way and will end up doing things that are of no value to him. We are building things with the wood and hay and are burnt up as in 1 Cor 3:12-15.

God is not interested in our plan. God does not want us to do things for Him (according to our view of what is good for Him). God invites us to join Him in completing the Master-piece of Creation of which we have a unqiue role to play. We can only be fulfilling and useful, producing good fruits, when we are connected to Jesus to discover His plan for us. We are to be led by His Spirit that we can do useful and meaningful thing. Let's humble ourselves, seek Jesus and response to His leading. We will discover the great plan Jesus has for us. We will be surprised by the accomplishments that He has called to do. Forget about our plan and follow His plan so that we can truly enjoy and live a victorious life - showing forth His glory through us. This is the real meaning of Prov 3:5-6. It is not that we abandon our thinking, but that our thinking must be directed by God.

Paul gave us his understanding of this verse in Meditation on the Bible by Reduction. See Hear - Obey - Glorify also.