This week’s suggested reading: John 15
This week’s question(s) to ponder: What distracts you most from abiding with Jesus? What are some practical things you can do to abide in him?
Abide in Jesus. Abide in Jesus. Abide in Jesus.
Jesus says the word “abide” ten times in six verses. (John 15:4-10) Abide. Whenever we read repetitive statements in the Bible, that’s a clue that what we’re being told holds great importance. Abide. In the Greek, that word means “stay, continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, tarry.” (Strong’s Concordance, G3306) Abide. And Jesus teaches that fruit grows in our lives as a result of abiding in him. Abide.
Abide means we bring him into the moments of the day. Abide means his words fill our thoughts as the minutes and hours tick by. Abide means we keep our eyes stayed on Jesus, even when the world shouts confusion. He tells us that the result of abiding in him will be fruit growing in our lives – the fruit of God which equals love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. (See Galatians 5) In fact, he tells us we can’t bear fruit if we don’t abide. (John 15:4) It’s not possible.
Abide. Abide.
Yet so much pulls at our attention, demanding that we abide in a million other things. From the moment we open our eyes in the morning to the moment we close them in the evening, distractions invade our minutes. And a vast majority of the distractions that pull at us come from a form of technology.
Think about it. What distracts you most from abiding in Jesus? For me, social media and the news most often distracts me from abiding in Jesus. Even as I sat down to type this post, I responded to my phone’s dinging approximately 537 times…until I finally shouted at myself, “Ignore it, Lara!” I have to purposefully turn my heart and mind away from the things of this world and onto his words. I have to purposefully take my thoughts captive to the truths of God. Otherwise I’ll find myself abiding in things that only bring fear, frustration, angst, and worry.
I’m not advocating for crawling into a hole with your family, disengaged from the pain and injustices of our day. Though that’s very tempting, that’s not our mission from Jesus. That’s not what Jesus meant when he said to abide in him. Our mission as followers of Jesus is to go into the world and love our neighbors, addressing both spiritual and physical needs. We’re called to be salt and light in this dark world. We’re instructed to go and make disciples, telling others of the good news of Jesus Christ. But we can’t do any of that effectively if we’re not abiding in him.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
Abide in Jesus.
One command: love others like Jesus loved.
In John 15:12-13, Jesus repeats the commandment he gave to his followers in John 13. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (15:12-13) Love like Jesus loved. So how did Jesus love?
Jesus loved completely and sacrificially. He gave himself. He entered into the pain of this world. He served the people around him, even those who would betray him. His love held him on a cross in order that he would die in the place of sinners. Jesus loved fully, and he commands us to do the same.
So how could Jesus love be expressed in your own life? Who might he be calling you to love like he loves – fully, sacrificially, and even when they can’t love you in return? (Questions I’m asking myself.)
Jesus left us with one command: love. Love others as an overflow of his love in us.
Expect hatred from the world.
Jesus tells us to expect hatred from the world. He says, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” (15:18) But let’s be really clear. The world hated Jesus without cause. Without cause. Without cause. Without cause. (I’m using repetition to emphasize my point.)
Too often I hear “Christians” use this expected hatred as an excuse for very unloving behavior. Here’s what I mean. Someone claiming to be a Christian says some hateful, mean, accusatory things, then says, “Well, people hate me just like they hated Jesus.” That’s NOT what Jesus is talking about.
Jesus was hated without cause. He came to give. He came to serve. He came with the message of hope and eternal life. He came with forgiveness from the Father. People (the religious people) hated him because to accept forgiveness meant acknowledging their sin of hypocrisy and idolatry. And that offended them because they no longer “had an excuse for their sin.” (15:22)
As we go into the world on a mission to love like Jesus loved, people (possibly the most “religious” people) will hate us just like they hated Jesus. His love radically crushes fake religiosity. His love destroys works-based righteousness. His love requires we die to self and live radically loving the world around us. People, often religious people, hate that.
