Where Do We Abide?

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Where Do We Abide?

Scripture: John 15:4–11 (NRSV)
 4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so I 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. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

Meditation:
            The question that comes to my mind when I read this portion of scripture is: How on earth does one abide in Christ? What does that really mean? Obviously Jesus thinks it is a thing of great importance this abiding in him. Since Jesus says the penalty for not abiding is to risk being thrown into a fire and burned! And the rewards of abiding, bearing much fruit, are so great; perhaps we should get this figured out!
            Maybe one way of getting to the bottom of this is to look at a scripture that may be related to this idea of abiding. Here we have the following: Ephesians 3:16–17 (NRSV) 16 I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.
            So perhaps abiding can mean to be rooted and grounded in Jesus. How would one become rooted and grounded in Jesus? It would mean getting as close to Jesus as you possibly could and staying there until you really became nourished by Jesus. We would need to be so intimate with the scriptures and so ardent and faithful in prayer that nothing could separate us from the love that is in Jesus.
            Then we could abide in Jesus no matter where we are or what we are doing. We could bear fruit for him at home, at work, at play, or at church. Us in Jesus and Jesus in Us growing closer all the time. Let us pray that this would be so!

Prayer:

O Dear Jesus, help us to learn to abide in you. Help us to put you at the center of our lives. Let us sink our roots deep into your love so that we may love like you do. Forgive us for the times we have wandered around on our own. Increase in us a desire to be near you. Help us study your words in scripture that we may become more intimate with you. Amen. 

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