How come I never knew this?!?

So I started listening to an Andy Stanley series called "Character Under Construction". I've only listened to 2 out of 6 but what I heard today caused me to think so differently about my walk with the Lord. He talked about having character like Christ and referenced John 15:5-"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing". Now I grew up going to church and had always heard and believed that Christian's are to imitate Christ, so his next statement blew my mind...

He said, "God doesn't ask us to imitate His son; He simply asks us to abide". "The character of Christ is not something that you can manufacture (imitate) it is something that is produced through you".

It makes so much sense, the branch can't imitate the vine, it's unable to; rather, it depends on the vine as it's life source!!! What the crap?! How come I never knew this?!? I mean, I had heard this verse and other verses that talk about putting Christ first but I still had a mindset that I was suppose to do something, like imitate Christ. When in actuality the only thing I have to do is abide (remain; stay close to) in Christ. God is committed to us producing fruit, we just have to stay close to Him and He will handle the rest! For me to think that I can imitate Christ is prideful, that's a sin so I actually failed before I even started!!! God knew I would never be able to imitate Christ, that's why God sent him here in the first place! It's funny how God keeps allowing me to understand things about Him and concepts that I thought I already knew. What a great guy!