Perfected in HIM through Abiding In Christ
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The purpose of these articles is to show the importance of remembering to keep God’s commandments, old and new, as I believe this is our key to survival in these days of trial.
In this third instalment of Jesus’ Commandments, let’s continue with a firm commandment of Jesus’ where He says:
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Let’s analyse the word ABIDE
Taken from the Merriam Webster dictionary
DEFINITIONS OF ABIDE:
Transitive Verb –
1a To bear patiently: to TOLERATE (i.e. cannot abide such bigots)
1b To endure without yielding: to WITHSTAND (i.e. to abide the onrush of the enemy)
2 To wait for: to AWAIT (i.e. I will await the coming of my Lord – Alfred Tennyson)
I will abide the coming of my lord.
— Alfred Tennyson
3 To accept without objection (i.e. will abide your decision)
Intransitive Verb –
1 To remain stable or fixed in a state (i.e. A love that abided with him all his days)
2 To continue in a place: to SOJOURN (i.e. will abide in the house of the Lord)
To abide by:
1 To conform to (i.e. to abide by the rules)
2 To accept without objection: to ACQUIESCE (i.e. will abide by your decision)
It’s so clear that the message is to stay in Christ as He will remain with us, because without abiding in Him we cannot grow.
Simply put, let’s plant our faith firmly in the fertile soil, so that we can bear fruit.
In the world we live in today, the pressure to jump on to the next thing if we don’t see results quick enough, is very real.
We church-hop from one place to another, not realising the same issues we have inside of us will present themselves again in another place or form.
God is perfecting us so that we can’t go around an issue – more so God will lead us through it.
I remember a saying, “when looking for oil, don’t dig a hole half way, or the next person in line will complete the hole and find the very oil you were looking for”
The question we must ask ourselves in light of this commandment is, who are we abiding in?
The question may seem a bit puzzling as it should be a straightforward answer, however consider the following:
1 Do you reason with yourself and come to an end decision based on your likes/dislikes; vibe/feelings about a person etc. – and therefore never give that person a chance to rectify a problem or ask for forgiveness?
I would say most of us do, because in our shallow defence it’s all we’ve got to on – so we wrongly assume something about others.
It’s a good thing God doesn’t judge us in this way.
Could you imagine it? I shudder to even contemplate such a thing.
The truth is, when we abide in Him we will see things through His lenses.
in this case His commandment “to love one another”.
2 Do we rely on one’s own ability?
I would say most of the time we do. Problems arise when we try to fill our needs in our own strength.
But, if we place our feet into the fertile soil and abide (stay, remain stable or fixed ) and place our future and security in Him, no matter what the circumstances we will quickly learn, as we dig our roots deeper in the fertile soil, that He is strong enough to carry us through our trials.
3 Do we seek acceptance from the crowd or from a person, thereby convincing ourselves to abide in that crowd or a friend in order to have a sense of belonging?
For all that have gotten over this bump – especially at a younger age – it’s a painful memory; ‘wanting people to like you’.
We often compromise our standards to fit in and hang around that person or crowd, without knowing that we’ve inadvertently set up idols and will often do anything – just anything – to be a loved social creature (belle of the ball or life of the party).
The truth is we must not put our desire to be liked above our relationship with God, for HE is the one we must abide in, not the crowd or the person.
Here’s what the holy scriptures say about knowing His commandments.
The Bible says through Jesus Christ:
12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
14 You are my friends if you do what I command.
12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
I John 2:3-6 NKJV reinforces this by saying:
3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked,
and, many of us who know the following scripture – which will be ubiquitous throughout these articles – will agree it is one of the most resonate of all:
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
So, if we don’t follow His commandments it is very clear that He will not recognise us.
13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
To “fear God and keep his commandments” is to learn to be and to discover the secret of being a whole person.
List Of The Commandments Of Jesus
In my previous writing I focused on the commandment you must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Here, I want to focus on something that we should do our best NOT to abide in: Money.
So often people think riches are the key to a sound mind and a prosperous life.
Here’s a snapshot of what the bible says about money.
Let’s look at the story of the rich man and Jesus:
Jesus Counsels the Rich Young Ruler
17 Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”
18 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.
19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ”
20 And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”
21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”
22 But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
With God All Things Are Possible
23 Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!”
24 And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God!
25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
This is effectively the epitome of my thesis.
We believe if we abide in money we can do great things. However, the rich man went away sorrowful because he couldn’t fathom a life without it.
If many people are honest with themselves they will be able to relate to the rich man’s sorrow.
The truth is that many know how easy it is to be entrapped by the lure of materialistic gain, not least because societies often congratulate the wealthy and encourage them to ABIDE IN WEALTH.
The Bible warns:
28
He who trusts in his riches will fall,
But the righteous will flourish like foliage.
Some Sound Advice
Instructions to the Rich
17 Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.
18 Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share,
19 storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
THE MAIN TAKEAWAY
Usually this would be my end point, however I feel this commandment on Abiding in Christ is so important in shining a light on us as individuals, as we seek to search our own hearts.
For this reason I want to take a deeper dive into the concept of abiding – are you ready?
THEN LET’S GO!
ABIDE: More Than a Mere Word
Now it is amazing that when a word is translated from one language to another, it loses a large amount of its original meaning and gains an entirely different meaning.
I gave a brief breakdown of the word earlier from the Merriam Webster dictionary which contains several definitions for the word abide.
These definitions are:
- To put up with
- To tolerate
- To wait patiently for
- To withstand
- To dwell
- To remain in place
and
- To conform to
These are all good definitions, but in the original usage (Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic), the meaning of the word went much deeper.
I believe the word Abide has been overlooked in the general Christian dialectic, and that many assume it is not an important word.
But this word is very important – not only in understanding several life-changing principles that are found in the Bible, but also in relation to an individual’s growth of knowledge.
Etymology
There are five different words in the original Greek and Hebrew for the one word abide we have in English. The first of these words, epimeno, is the strengthened form of another verb, meno.
The word epimeno sometimes indicates perseverance in continuing to do something. The second word, katameno, is a verb that means to stay or constant residence or frequent resort.
Another word, parameno, means to continue always near and is sometimes used to express confidence in abiding with a person.
One really neat word is hupomeno, which means to remain in a place instead of leaving it; to stay behind or persevere; to preserve: under misfortunes and trials to hold fast to one’s faith in Christ.
Finally, the word prosmeno is used in several different situations to indicate a persistent loyalty or a continuance in doing something or to hold fast to: the grace of God received in the Gospel.
The root from which all the other verbs come is meno, which has also been defined as meaning intensive.
This is important because it indicates that the verbs that stem from this root have a meaning beyond the face value of the word.
A good example of this is when two children may say that they love each other because they’ve learned to say this via their parents; it doesn’t mean very much to them.
However, if those two children were to grow up and marry the word love would have much more depth and meaning, because of course the two would more fully comprehend what they were saying.
And, when someone says that he/she will abide by their word, they probably mean that they will do what they have said that they would do.
This is not the true meaning of the word abide.
When we abide in something we are loyal to it even unto death.
When we abide we remain in a certain place even when the rest of the world has left us behind.
To abide means to continue doing whatever is being done even when it is hard and the urge to quit is almost too much.
The word abide means to cling to something and have faith in it, even when it seems to have failed.
Sometimes abide is used with some of the meanings that are in today’s English dictionary, but the above mentioned usages are also a large part of the way this word fits into our language.
If the world truly understood the meaning of this awesome word then I don’t think people would use it so carelessly.
In conclusion, isn’t it ironic that, in order to have a social media presence, you must obtain followers and those followers must abide in you and you in them for each other’s followers to increase through word of mouth and influence …
No wonder everything is upside down.
So, ask yourself again who are you/we abiding in?
Well, the only one to abide in and follow is JESUS – and He’s not on Instagram.
Thank GOD
Blessings Ron
It Has Been Said 