ABIDE IN HIM

Good morning on this great Saturday!

We got a little rain last night. We have had a lot of sunshine this week so we needed some rain. My poor garden. I spent hours with the weeds five days ago and it is full again. I wish I knew how to keep them out of there without physical labor or poison. My back won't take much hard work any more and I will not eat poison. So, I guess I shouldn't have a garden.

But fresh vegetables are the best. If you haven't grown them and eaten them, there is nothing better even with the weeds. 

Well, life can be rough. When weeds and poison get thrown in, our lives can get very hard. But we must hang on for dear life as we seek to abide in Christ. 

 “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. ⁶ If anyone

 does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch 

and is withered; and they gather them and throw 

them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷ If you 

abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will 

ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 

  ⁸ By this My Father is glorified, that you bear 

much fruit; so you will be My disciples.⁹ “As the 

Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in

 My love. ¹⁰ 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.

John 15:5-10

This is Jesus talking in these verses. We need to abide in Him and abide in His love. We need to keep His commandments and bear fruit. In other words follow Him closely and show it, act like it all the time. At that point, God is glorified and we are His disciples. It sounds very easy but it is not. It takes effort and lots of it. 

Pulling and hoeing weeds is hard work and takes a lot of effort physically. Abiding in Christ can be physical but also mental and obviously spiritual. 

Brethren, let every man, wherein he is 

called, therein abide with God.

                                        1 Corinthians 7:24

"In order for God to conform us to the image of His Son (see Romans 8:29), we must abide in Christ. What does it mean to abide? It means to remain, rest, stay, wait, and continue. Abiding in Christ, then, involves waiting upon the Lord and entering into His peace.

Just as a branch draws its life-source from the vine, we as believers must stay connected to Jesus for His life to flow through us and produce spiritual fruit. Branches "live and move and have their being" (Acts 17:28) only by the life of the vine.

Abiding in Christ is a patient expectancy; it is neither wasteful idleness nor anxious striving. "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him" (Psalm 62:5). Abiding in Christ, then, means to draw supernatural strength from the presence of the Lord and walk moment by moment in the leading of His Spirit."

So, as life goes on and gets rough sometimes, let's abide in Christ. That is what He wants and as a Christian that should be what we want. We should want to honor and glorify Him always. And abiding in Him is doing just that.

Have an awesome day!

Les (lesbear)

Excerpts from Abiding in Christ.