ABIDING IN CHRIST
Are you the Growing-living or the living-dying?
Have you ever considered this? All living things are either growing, or they are dying. When they stop growing, the dying process takes over until they are dead. We are either the Growing-Living, or the living-dying.
Jesus is “the Vine“ that supplies life to “His branches“. If He is living in us, growth is active in us as we obey His commandments. When we stop obeying Him, growth stops and dying begins.
“This is His (the Father’s) commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He (the Son) commanded us.” I John 3:23
“We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.” I John 3:14
We have, then, two commandments: one from the Father (believe in the name of His Son), and one from the Son (love one another).
Together they summarize right and wrong, good and evil, godly and ungodly, wise and foolish, spiritual and unspiritual. Keeping these two commandments is to be Living and growing; not to keep them is to be dying. We are either abundantly alive and growing; or half dead and dying.
“By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.” I John 3:10
Here is how we keep His commandments: By loving one another no matter what is put in the way, wide awake to the fact that our time to be the Growing-Living is short and vital to present happiness and our eternal future.
“Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law…summed up in this saying, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."
Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.” Romans 13:8-11
Loving people as long as they are nice and cost us nothing is really just loving ourselves, and contributes nothing to growth. The whole world loves those who love them, with no thought of obeying the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ’s disciple keeps on loving when a relationship turns hurtful and expensive. The Lord’s commandment to love compels obedience to his Lord, without regard for how people treat him
We are either growing by this commitment to love for Christ’s sake, or we are dying by self interest. “No man can serve two masters.” We actively commit to love as He loved us, making Him truly Lord of our lives, or default to the idolatry of self interest, loving ourselves more and making ourselves our own god.
Growing in Christ is to love perseveringly, steadfastly, unrelentingly, “seventy times seven”, unrecognized, unappreciated, misunderstood, looking foolish--in a relationship that costs us our life for someone else’s. John 15 calls this relentless love “abiding” in Christ and, (surprise!), this results in joy.
“We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” I John 3:16
"These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” John 15:11-12
Dying, we know, finally ends in death just as growing finally produces fruit.
"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." John 3:36
"If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.” John 15:6
"But the seed (life) in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast (grow), and bear fruit with perseverance.” Luke 8:15
The Growing-Living disciple who loves through every vicissitude of relationship is “abiding” in Christ. Nothing shakes him out of his commitment to trust and love. He has found a safe home in which to abide.
“May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.” II Thessalonians 3:
What if my commitment to obey love gets tried to the extreme and I fail in my faith and act out unloving sin? Have I then ceased to live and begun to die? No, not unless I justify my disobedience and persist in it. If I am abiding in Christ my sin will instead elicit the humility of repentance and confession, and a fresh commitment to abide in love. There will be a renewed appreciation of my desperate need for a Savior and the grace of God. This, too, causes growth, and is a part of abiding in love.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I John 1:9
“…all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” I Peter 5:5
But such sin should be the exception. To abide in the safe place of love prevents our stumbling into defensiveness and self interested sin.
“The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” I John 2:9-11
“No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed (life) abides in him; and he cannot (habitually) sin, because he is born of God.” I John 3:9
“By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. I John 2:3-5
“Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.” I John 2:28
When the Lord says “Abide in Me,“ He is not making an optional or hopeful request. but is giving us the way to joyously live, to avoid dying. Commitment to His commandments determines our condition, whether we are the Growing-living or the living-dying.
Rae Edlin
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