Simple Abiding

We need to be refreshed with the Bible text which was brought to us at the beginning, concerning abiding in Jesus.

If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. John 15: 7

This word, comfortable and calming to some, but quite uncomfortable and unnerving to others, can never ever be over-emphasized, over-repeated or over-stated. Only by faith can one abide in Jesus, for only faith pleases His Heavenly Father. Our good thoughts, charitable works, sweet, pacifying talk and even our righteous and religious obedience to law, do not constitute our abiding in Jesus.

Understand the meaning of abiding, as permanently living in one place. To abide is not any temporary living. To abide is not to say that we live in one place, have our address there, with all our bills coming to that address, but we are hardly there, because we are hanging out, camping out, sleeping out or even holidaying out in another place. Absolutely not! To abide in Jesus is to be completely fixed in Him, as the branch is fixed in the tree.

In the verses of the text, therefore, we are receiving four facts of faith, which guarantee unbroken covenant and unbroken promises of Jesus.

First of Four Abiding Facts

Condition - If you abide in Me.

From the onset, the condition is clearly made. It is the condition of abiding. Our granddaughter has her address, her place of residence as my address. True, she used to live here with me at one time, but she is now on her own. She has the freedom to come and visit whenever she likes, to even sleep over when she desires, but the fact remains that she is not abiding with me. Mail come to my address for her, as she has her business address as my address, and occasionally there are telephone calls for her, as she also has my telephone number as hers, as was previously the case. Here is the unarguable fact. My granddaughter is not living with me.

This is no different from many of us and Jesus. We claim to be living with Him, because we still have free contact with Him. We have our address as His, but we do not abide or dwell with Him. We think that we are living with Him, because we perhaps think daily of Him, talk daily to Him and even speak to others about Him. Believers, my granddaughter does the same, but she is not living with me. You can even show blessing received from Jesus, but that does not mean that you are abiding with Him. I give things to my granddaughter from time to time, as any granny, mummy, daddy, auntie or uncle does. You do it joyfully and willing, but the person is not living with you. Be not foolish and utterly deceived. Receiving good from Jesus, does not in any way indicate that you are abiding in Him.

Take your own house, the place where you live, where you call home. Abiding is not visiting your home, regardless of how frequently or infrequently you go there. The same is true with Jesus. Too many of us claim Him as our Dwelling Place, and have Him as our address, our place of abode for all spiritual transactions, but the truth is that we do not live there.

You and I must live in Christ.