Tuesday, November 12th, 2024
Abide in Me
Abide in Me, and I in you.
John 15:4
This is a conditional promise: if you abide in Jesus, He will abide in you.
The first part of this verse is a command: Abide in Me, and this is where our focus should be. Other translations say, Live in Me, Remain in Me, or Dwell in Me.
Andrew Murray wrote a book called abide in Christ. It was not called abide in Christ, and He will abide in you. He went for the command instead of the promise. After all, the promise is not fruitful until the command is kept.
We know that the Holy Spirit lives in us from the time we are born-again. So too does Jesus. And His Father, since the two are one, as Scripture tells us. If I say, “Jesus lives in me,” the focus is on me. If I say, “I live in Jesus,” the focus is on Him, where it should be.
So, my friends, live in Jesus today. If you are living in Him, you will do as He does. You will seek to please Him instead of yourself. You will not so much ask Him to help you in your endeavors as to ask Him what He wants you to do this day – in His kingdom.
November 12th, 2024 at 5:13 pm
Good word, Patrick. Just this morning, the following thoughts emerged from my prayer time. They seem in line with your Melody today, so I thought to share them:
The Incarnation is an act of solidarity with humanity. The Son of God became one of us so we could become like Him. Jesus’ death and resurrection are acts of self-substitution: Within His solidarity with us, the God-Man brought to death the old self of mankind at the cross (Romans 6:6), replacing it with His sinless, new human self at His resurrection. In Him we are rescued, forgiven, and restored. The operant phrase here is “in Him.” Selah, meditate on this. As we abide in Him, so to become like Him. Bill