What Jesus seeks is one who abides in him. Not one who merely visits him. But one who abides. Dwells. Lives. Resides. Moves in, unpacks the boxes, and makes himself/herself at home with him.
“Abide in me,” Jesus says (Jn. 15:4).
“Abide in my love,” Jesus invites (Jn. 15:9).
What does this look like? Jesus provides the illustration: “Abide in my love…just as I…abide in [my Father’s] love.” (Jn. 15:9-10) The goal is to become as intimate with the Son as he is with the Father. One and the same.
As I meditate on this passage, I am reminded how rarely I treat abiding as the end. Often it is the means toward some other end. I abide, briefly, so that I may gain help from Jesus for some task at home or at church. I abide, briefly, so that I might ask Jesus to intervene in some issue or to overturn some evil. But rarely do I abide simply to abide. Rarely do I view abiding as an end in itself.
My hope is that during these 30 days of (mostly) silence, I will become more at home with Jesus. That I will learn to not just stop by, but to stay. And that I will treat residing with Jesus as the true end of my life.
Look forward to hearing what you glean these thirty days!
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