What Does It Mean to Abide?

JOHN 15:4-5 says,  “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.” 

ABIDE comes from the Greek word menō. It means to remain, to hang out with, continue with, stay connected to

 In real life, ABIDING is the constant maintaining of an intimate heart-communion with Christ.

Andrew Murray described ABIDING as being OCCUPIED with CHRIST.

Can a branch that has been broken off bear fruit? There’s nothing we can do to make it bear fruit.

The thing is, some of you are trying really hard to live out this Christian life. To love. To be kind. To give, to serve, to truly live for eternity…but it’s all so hard. And the reason you’re struggling is simply because a branch cannot bear fruit unless it abides. ABIDING IN CHRIST has to be the PRIORITY of our lives. 

We know what ABIDE means… & we know that we need to do it but that’s the same as knowing what it looks like in real life? 

Jesus isn’t just a one day – Sunday experience. Abiding in Christ isn’t just about going to church, reading our Bibles and praying. 

ALL of those things are ESSENTIAL PARTS OF ABIDING! 

But ABIDING IN CHRIST is about a moment-by-moment dependency on Christ. It’s about clinging to the Lord & nurturing that personal, intimate relationship Jesus died to have with us. 

 

It’s about making Him our magnificent obsession & the object of our affection. We need Jesus.

 

It’s praying consistently.

 

It’s intentionally growing in our faith.

 

It’s reading and studying the Word of the Living God.

 

It’s filtering everything we do and say through our relationship with the Lord.

 

It’s leaning in, pressing in and giving in to His will, His ways and His Word.

 

It’s drawing from His strength and dependency on Him as our vital spiritual nutrients for life.

Y’all, we need to ABIDE because…

    • life is hard, 
    • The WORLD is WICKED & DISTRACTING
    • We walk through loss, 
    • We get bad diagnosis from our doctor, 
    • our kids break your heart, 
    • our friend betrays us, 
    • our plans fall through, 
    • our finances fail,
    • we’re overlooked & undervalued, 
    • Sometimes our heart hurts, our lives become dry & our faith is shaken 

It’s JESUS alone who has will sustain you in it & through it. It is JESUS alone that can bring peace to your heart & rest to your weary soul. 

Listen…if you don’t do anything else…make ABIDING in CHRIST the MOST IMPORTANT PRIORITY of your life. 

Above every other ambition. Every other desire. Every other affection. Every other focus. ABIDING in CHRIST must come before everything… for apart from Him we can do…NOTHING.

As Christians…we abide

WE ABIDE BECAUSE KNOWING HIM is OUR GREATEST, MOST PROFOUND & UNPARALLELED PRIVILEGE & EVERYTHING WE NEED is FOUND in HIM.

OH FRIENDS…MAKE ABIDING in CHRIST the PRIORITY of YOUR LIFE. 

Because you will reveal whether or not you are abiding in Christ, the True Vine, or abiding in something else by what it is that overflows from your life.

Are you abiding in Christ right now? What is it you need to do in your life to make margin to abide? 

3 Comments

  1. It means to cling to…rely upon…stay connected to.

  2. Beautiful words of life spoken here. Thank you! I love and embrace the ideas of being occupied with Christ and having all of my affections turned toward Him. He alone is worthy!

    • Thank you for popping in and sharing that Cheryl! During this season of so many distractions, it is truly a discipline to abide in Christ… to be occupied with Him while the all that is going on in the world vies for our attention. But it is a discipline that is worth it… for, as you said, He alone is worthy!

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