Jesus said, “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 15:10). I forget over and over to be a disciple like Jesus. I frequently fail to give myself over to the Lord the way Jesus did.
But his words here give me courage and convince me of the fact that abiding isn’t just beautiful and comforting: it’s a command. I’m going to highlight five things about “abiding,” which Jesus’ words help to demonstrate.
What Does it Mean ‘To Abide’
The Greek word Jesus used was menó, the meaning of which changes subtly from one precise context to the next. In John 15, Jesus talks variously about abiding as not leaving, persevering, surviving, and “to be kept continually.”
John Piper wrote that “our active abiding is the act of receiving and trusting all that God is for us in Christ.” Abiding implies a white-knuckled kind of trust, the kind one can wear in battle.
1. Abiding Is Obedient
Abiding is choosing God and obeying him. Jesus says, “If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned” (v.6).
Not resting in Jesus means rebelling against the Father who sent him and leads to separation from him. Christ’s own joy was submission.
“The author and perfecter of our faith, [...] for the joy set before Him endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2). It was Jesus’ joy to obey the Father.
Obedience is hard — we demonstrate our stubborn refusal to submit from the time we are very small. Rebellion comes naturally to us, which is why I am so thankful that Jesus didn’t just tell us how to obey — he showed us.
We are called to do nothing less than to copy Jesus, even if it means going to a cross of our own.
2. Abiding Is Restful
And even if this is the case, we can rest in Christ because he has also proven to us that he can be trusted. He has defeated death, which includes the death which left us hamstrung, vulnerable to those easy sins we slip into; the sins that control us and cause us anxiety (Matthew 11:28-30).
My burdens don’t disappear, but they are eased supernaturally by knowing Christ helps me to carry them.
Get rid of the world’s heavy yoke and wear Jesus’ yoke instead. Kath Thomas puts it this way: “Perhaps part of that light yoke is resting in the knowledge that our God is sovereign. All things are in His hands, and we can trust Him for our future, our present, and even our past. I don’t have to work it all out.”
There will still be an “it” to figure out, and we can’t just bury our heads and deny what’s happening. But Christ doesn’t want us to lose sight of him as we try to take control of life to the point where we think that if bad things happen, it’s our fault; if good things don’t happen, we did something wrong.
“Abiding in his love” gives me such a sense of peace. His love bleeds through the pages of Scripture. I don’t have to figure everything out. I don’t have to try (futilely) to be perfect.
The Holy Spirit speaks for me when I don’t have words and refines me to become more like Christ, by degrees, all the time. He does this for all believers so they can trust and rest in him.
3. Abiding Is Loving
It’s a big mistake to attach some bland idea of sentimental love to the character and life of Jesus. One cannot separate Christ’s love from his sacrificial death, from the gory justice of the cross.
And one cannot love God without likewise giving up one’s own life, perhaps not in the way that Christ did, although there are Christians around the world who are giving their very lives to spread the gospel.
Abiding in and loving Jesus involves choosing to do what God has called us to do and witnessing that Christ is Lord at work, at the gym, or among loved ones. When we rest in him, we love him by loving other people, which often means sacrificing time, money, pride, and convenience.
4. Abiding Is Life
Giving our lives over to Christ sometimes feels like a dead-end road. What’s going to happen to me if I sacrifice my desires in favor of God’s desires, and then I die without having accomplished my goals? What if I feel like a failure? What if I pass up a promotion? What if I never marry?
God is in the resurrection business, so I can be confident that something so much better waits for me eternally. Our jobs will be given to us by God, and they will bring us joy.
The family of God will be unified in loving each other and worshiping the Risen Christ who will be our Bridegroom.
No believer will be left behind. If one were to examine Christ’s own life and ministry, it wasn’t very successful in the earthly sense. He went to a cross after all, and everyone abandoned him.
But then he rose from the grave. Our dead ends aren’t really dead after all. Remember Piper’s illustration above that what flows between the branch and the vine is the love of God, like sap flowing through a plant?
That’s nourishment, blood, and life. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
5. Abiding Is Fruitful
Another point Piper made is that if we don’t abide in Christ — if we are not attached to him and participating in that essential relationship between him and the Father — “his words, his love, his joy will be utterly and totally barren. Nothing of any lasting value will come from us.”
In fact, he goes so far as to say that if we are truly attached to Jesus — if we abide in him — then it’s going to show in our fruit.
Otherwise, as John 15:6 says, the useless, dead branches will be gathered and destroyed. That’s not a threat, it’s just the reality that Jesus’ blood is the only source of life.
We are being sanctified by this relationship, a work that comes from his Holy Spirit. It’s not a result of anything we do. “Abiding and fruit-bearing confirm us,” added Piper and a life without fruit proves that we don’t really abide in Christ.
We say all the right things, perhaps. Maybe we read the Bible. Perhaps we pray or even go to church. But only abiding in Jesus will cause lasting, God-glorifying transformation, which shows. Other people see it, and by this visible transformation, Jesus is made famous.
Are You Abiding?
How have you permitted Jesus to transform you? Can others see the change in you, even if they can’t quite figure out what exactly has happened? Only you can say for sure if you truly believe and abide in Christ.
But if you’re afraid to take that step of faith, can I just say that there is nothing as restful as knowing that God’s plans are bigger and better than mine?
There is no screw-up I can make which will change his plans (believe me, I’ve screwed-up lots), and nothing I do will separate me from him (not even that really bad day in high school…. or that afternoon when I felt like the worst parent…).
It’s indescribably freeing and beautiful to imagine that if I abide in Jesus, if I enjoy his life-giving presence by the Holy Spirit even on bad days, then unbelievers will see him and want to meet him.
That’s what I hope for. Whereas we Westerners urge our kids to go out and make their own way, the Lord does things in reverse, saying, “Stay with me.”
For further reading:
What Did Jesus Christ Mean When He Said ‘Abide in Me’?
What Is the Significance of the Greatest Commandment?
What Does it Mean That Jesus Is the True Vine?
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