Complete in Thee: Some Thoughts on Abiding in Christ

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Some Thoughts on Abiding in Christ

"Abide in me, and I in you."

What does this mean? What does the word abide mean anyway?

I don't know about you, but when I hear the word abide, the idea that comes to my mind first is "to have one's abode; dwell; reside." This definition is probably what confused me in my previous reading of John 15-- I had a hard time imagining and understanding what "having one's abode" in Christ would look like.

However, that is not the definition for this term in John 15. Instead, it means "to stay (in a given place, state, relation or expectancy): - abide, continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand, tarry" (Strong's Concordance, G3306). One article breaks it down like this:

TO ABIDE
to wait for
to endure without yielding
to bear patiently
to accept without objection
to remain stable or fixed in a state
to continue in a place

It also holds in it the concept of putting oneself under someone's jurisdiction, protection, and provision.

How do we abide in Christ? How do we continue in Him, stay in Him? Jesus makes this clear to us that if we keep His commandments, we will abide in His love, just as He keeps His Father's commandments and abides in His love (John 15:10). We abide in Him by keeping His commandments, the most important of which is to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our strength. As we obey His Word, we will continue in Him and bear the fruit of being in Him-- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

My older sister and I have been staying at our friends the N's house this week during VBS at church, while our mom and younger sister are visiting relatives out of state, and I have been enjoying morning devotions after breakfast every day. Mr. N has been going through this passage about abiding in Christ, and it has been very enlightening and thought-provoking. I have been considering the question, "Am I abiding in Christ?" Do I keep my commandments? Is His love evident in my life? Is the fruit of the Spirit manifesting itself in my actions, attitudes, and words? And I am finding how often I fall short, and how much I need Christ to live this out through me.

It can be frustrating sometimes if we consider these things as a matter of works, however. We need to keep in mind-- I need to keep in mind-- that I cannot keep His commandments, love, or bear His fruit on my own. He says, "Whoever abides in me and I in Him, He it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing." Nothing. Abiding in Christ is not something we do; it is a position we are in, in Christ, through Christ, because of Christ, and as we stay in Christ, connected to Him, being in Him, His fruit will grow in us. "In Christ" is the key phrase, and it is in Him that we are to abide.

We cannot expect to bear fruit if we are not abiding, staying, dwelling in Him. A verse from Hosea stood out to me yesterday as I read it, and convicted me. The Lord is speaking through the prophet Hosea and says, "What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away." Is our love like the morning cloud? Is our love like the dew that rests in droplets on the grass and the flowers until the sun comes out, and then evaporates into the air? I was convicted when I considered that I am often like that-- I read God's word in the morning, I agree with it, I say I love Him, and then I start my day and I forget. God does not want fair-weather friends, nor does He good-morning friends. He wants abiding friends, that keep His commandments. He wants our hearts to be so close-knit to Him, and with Him at all times, fellowshipping with Him and reflecting Him and pouring out His love to the world. He wants us to continue, to stay, to abide in Him.

These thoughts may seem jumbled up and not particularly organized or informed. Abiding in Christ is still something I am learning, and desiring both to understand better and to live out. I don't expect that this post gave you much, if any, new information, but I hope that it has helped to stir your mind regarding the great importance of being in Christ. If you are not abiding in Him, if your love is like the morning cloud or the dew, or if you find you have no love for Him at all, turn to Him and seek His face. Dig into His Word, quiet your heart before Him, walk as He walks. To those of you who are seeking to abide in Him continually, to abide in His love and do His commandments, let us encourage each other. Let this mind be in us, which was also in Christ Jesus, and let us stir up one another other to love and good works.

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PRAYER REQUESTS

"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints" (Ephesians 6:18)

PLEASE PRAY...

* That I would draw nearer to God every day and never allow my relationship to become stagnant ritual; particularly that I would grow in the area of submission, patience, 1 Corinthians 13 love, and wholehearted devotion

* That I might have wisdom as I edit "The Marquis' Daughter"; that the Lord would bless and work through it; and that I might find just the right publisher for it.

* That I would submit to the Lord's work in my life, whatever it may be; that I would take each opportunity He brings me (even the seemingly hard ones) to draw closer to Him and point others to Him

*That our Etsy shop might be successful and that it would be a means by which we can glorify God and share the Gospel

Ephesians 2:1-10

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

"The heart set to do the Father's will need never fear defeat. His promises of guidance may be fully counted upon. Does it make sense to believe that the Shepherd would care less about getting His sheep where He wants them to go than they care about getting there?"

"God is God. Because He is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will, a will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to."

"If God, like a father, denies us what we want now it is in order to give us some far better thing later on. The will of God, we can rest assured, is invariably a better thing."

"Obedience to God's will is the secret of spiritual knowledge and insight. It is not willingness to know, but willingness to DO (obey) God's will that brings certainty."

"Victory over all the circumstances of life comes not by might, nor by power, but by a practical confidence in God and by allowing His Spirit to dwell in our hearts and control our actions and emotions. Learn in the days of ease and comfort, to think in terms of the prayer that follows, so that when the days of hardship come you will be fully prepared and equipped to meet them."

"And shall I pray, Oh, change Thy will, my Father,
Until it be according unto mine?
Ah no, Lord, no, that never could be, rather
I pray Thee, Blend my human will with Thine."

"A crucified life cannot be self-assertive. It cannot protect itself. It cannot be startled into resentful words. The cup that is full of sweet water cannot spill bitter-tasting drops, however sharply it is knocked."

"And as we rest our hearts upon what we know (the certainty of the ultimate triumph of good), leaving what we do not know to the Love that has led us all our life long, the peace of God enters into us and abides. And then we see our light."

[A Practicing Christian]...it means that every single act and feeling, every experience, whether pleasant or unpleasant, must be referred to God. It means looking at everything as something that comes from Him, and always looking to Him and asking His will first, and saying, "How would he wish me to deal with this?"

Christ says: "Give me all. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work. I want you."

"I was not born to be free. I was born to adore and to obey."

"What is saving but taking us out of the dark into the light? There is no salvation but to know God and grow like Him."

"I will not try to convince you of anything about God. I cannot. You must know Him. I only tell you I believe in Him with all my heart. You must ask Him to explain Himself to you, and not take it for granted that He has done you a wrong because He has done what you do not like. Whether you seek Him or not, He will do you justice. But He cannot explain Himself unless you seek Him."

"Sometimes a thunderbolt will shoot from a clear sky; and sometimes into the life of a peaceful individual, without warning of gathered storm, something terrible will fall. And from that moment everything is changed. That life is no more what it was. Better it ought to be, worse it may be. The result depends on the life itself and it's response to the invading storm of trouble. Forever after, it's spiritual weather is altered. But for the one who believes in God, such rending and frightful catastrophies never come but where they are turned around for good in his own life and in other lives he touches."