Abiding In His Love

John 15:4-5 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."... Wow! What a challenge this is for us.


John 15 is one of my favorite passages. It has so much in it - that I encourage you to read the entire chapter. It is one that grabs my heart and challenges me daily to make time to "abide".

ABIDE means: To wait, to endure without yielding, to bear patiently, to accept without objection, to remain stable or fixed in a state, to continue in a place. Synonyms: Stay, continue, bear. ABIDING: enduring, continuing.
In this passage abiding has to do with being - not in doing. It is not the things that we do that are the essence of abiding, but it has more to do with our relationship with Christ. The things we do in our Christian walk, like reading scripture, praying, sharing our faith, etc... is hopefully the outcome of a relationship with Jesus that understands what it means to really "abide" in Him. Yet, they are not the essence of what abiding is... Abiding is when we open our heart and life to allow time to remain in His presence. We can use Bible reading and prayer to help prepare our hearts to "be" in the place of abiding, but it is when we stop our efforts and really yield ourselves to Him in relationship where true abiding begins. As a branch is graphed into the vine to gain its sustenance, so we must have our lives graphed into Jesus to draw our sustenance from His life. He awaits our giving Him space/time in our day so He can share Himself with us. He is not distant from us - but rather scripture says He gave us His Holy Spirit to indwell us. This is the life blood of our connection to Jesus. We gain understanding into His heart and become more acute to hearing His voice speaking to us... when we give Him time in a place of stillness - abiding. This is not a time of our agenda, but a time of our surrender to Him. Waiting expectantly - relating joyously - deeply.
This chapter goes on to tell us that this place is a place of love. Jesus extends to us the same love that He received from the Father. The place we abide in is the place of His love. John 15: 9-11 states, “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full." Jesus told all of this to fill our hearts with joy! It excites me to know that His love is there for me. I love coming to Him and allowing Him to pour His love into my heart and life. I so desire for this to be the outflow of my life... which these scriptures promise will produce fruit. It is fruit that will come out of being nourished in love.
Don't neglect that place of abiding love... He is there for you each day. Take time to abide no matter where you are this summer.

A Lost Ring

My oldest daughter moved downstairs some months back. Somehow during the move she misplaced a ring that meant a lot to her. I saw where she was putting it and told her I thought it was not a good spot, as it would not be where she would look later. It was a ring that she got at SonShine last summer. It carried some sentiment of what Jesus had done in her heart. The ring lettering was the Greek word for the highest form of love, Agape. She had really been touched by the meaning of the word at camp that summer. They had done an Agape meal for the youth, and she had been deeply touched. Agape means unconditional, active divine love. It reminds her of God's love for her.

I was reading Luke 15:8-10 and came across the woman who lost a coin in her home. Jesus tells this short parable, reflecting how the woman "lights a lamp, sweeps the house and searches carefully until she finds it." Then when she does, she calls her friends and neighbors together and asks them to celebrate with her, as she has found her lost coin. Let's all see ourselves as "sent ones" this summer, going out to find "lost coins!”
Back to the “lost ring saga.” My daughter had searched many times through every nook in her room. She felt saddened that she was unable to find the ring. Off and on she would pursue looking, but to no avail. I could tell it really bothered her, as it was a special reminder of the Lord's love for her. Finally, I offered to take a look, promising to be very careful to put everything back where I found it. I went through everything one afternoon. (She is not one who keeps a lot of junk!) I did not find it, but in my heart I could feel the persistence of the Lord's leading to keep trying. Finally, I did what I should have done every step of my journey. I stopped and gave up my efforts to find the ring. I asked the Lord to lead me to find what was beyond me. All of a sudden, I felt His sweet prompting in my heart. I opened her desk drawer (which I had already done three times) and felt prompted to look through her stationary. There, in the middle of the little pile, was a small plastic bag which had in it the maker’s card and THE RING!!! Wow! I was so happy, I ran upstairs to show her and a moment of rejoicing rang out in our house!
Back to Luke 15, as I ponder the woman. Jesus goes on to make His point. He says, "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Another moment of reflection hits my heart, as I think of the opportunities I have had to share Jesus with those around me or to show His love. I remember the time we purchased a pretty gift box to put my mother's gift in for her birthday. (The pretty box was on sale for only $2.) In the checkout, one of our favorite gals was the clerk. She commented on the pretty box and how she would love to get one for her mother. I mentioned there was only one left. She said she hoped it would still be there when she got paid two days later. We finished at checkout and swung back into the store. What for? We went to purchase the other box! As we went through the checkout again, the gal looked a bit confused and said she already charged us for the box. We smiled and told her it was for her, and we wished her a very blessed week. It was all we had to say, but we left feeling we had deposited His love in her heart.
Our family loves these moments of touching lives together. I hope you will find some opportunities yourself. Finding my daughter’s ring was awesome, but seeing someone find Jesus’ love reaches way beyond any words I could find.