Abide:
To accept or act in accordance with, to bear patiently, to endure without yielding, to wait for, to accept without objection, to remain stable or fixed and my personal favorite to continue in place-sojourn.
I honestly think I am the worst abider I know. I have an incredibly hard time doing all of the above, so is it any wonder that I get burned from rash decisions? I speak when I should listen, I run when I should sit, I plan and control everything within my reach without noticing nothing is working.
Anyone else pick up the phone and call a friend when you really should just keep quiet?
Have you said yes when you really should have said, I’ll need to pray about that first?
I desperately want off this crazy cycle!
Lord I want to abide in you. I want to accept that if I follow hard after you, you alone will be the answer to everything I need or want. Only by your grace can I wait for and accept without objection.
In John chapter 15 the word abide is used 9 times. Three times a word or phrase is used in scripture and your antenna perks up, but 9 times and I am wondering why is this so important. To begin the chapter Jesus is talking about how He is the vine and that there are branches that can or cannot bear fruit. The branches that do bear fruit are pruned and the others are chopped off.
How does a branch bear fruit? By abiding in the vine (“abide in me, and I in you” vs.4), and what about this fruit that we cannot bear without abiding? According to Galatians 5:22, “the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, goodness, and self-control.” By this definition I cannot bear any of these without first abiding in Christ who is the vine, and abiding looks very different then what I’ve been doing lately. Here is what I can do.
- To accept or act in accordance with: I am blessed to be a wife and mom and I am enough in my loving them well.
- To bear patiently: I have dreams that do not include homeschooling all day long, but those will have to wait for now.
- To endure without yielding: The mundane of housework can drive a person nuts but by the grace of God I will not trade it.
- To wait for: My name to be called
- To accept without objection: This amazing life we’ve made. The great and the not so great.
- To remain stable: I will fix my eyes on the only one who can keep me stable, Jesus.
- To continue in place-sojourn: I don’t need anything more or less then what Jesus has given me today.
What an amazing life this is I get to live! In Jesus name, Amen.
