Category: obedience to God

Abiding in Christ

(OT usage)

Psalm 102:12 NASB But You, O LORD, abide [H3427] forever, And Your name to all generations.

HEBREW: Strong’s 3427

  1. to dwell, remain, sit, abide
    1. to sit, sit down
    1. to be set
    1. to remain, stay
    1. to dwell, have one’s abode

(NT usage)

John 15:4 NASB “Abide [G3306] in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.

GREEK: Strong’s 3306

  1. to remain, abide
    1. to sojourn, tarry, not to depart
      1. to continue to be present to be held, kept, continually
    1. to continue to be, not to perish, to last, endure

In both Greek and Hebrew the meaning is the same.

I was recently questioning a state in which I find myself. To be sure, it is not a place I would choose to ‘abide’. But, no matter where we are, in pleasant or not so pleasant circumstances, it’s clear from a biblical standpoint that circumstances are of little to no consequence at all. They are not what matters most for Christians.

According to a multitude of biblical verses, it is the soul, the mind and the spirit which is of prime importance to God.

Indeed, while He can and will use our physical circumstances for His purposes for our spiritual growth and our good, it’s clear our physical is not His main concern. His goal is to transform us into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Our soul must align with scripture; therefore, we must not just be familiar with what scripture says, but we must live by them, obey them.

To abide in Christ, is to live in, to remain, to not depart, to settle in and do what we are commanded to in His Word.

For example, in 2 Cor. 10:5 it says, We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

So, speculations and lofty things raised up against the knowledge of God, we take those thoughts captive. We don’t dwell on them, we cast them out of our minds. We replace them with the truth of God’s Word.

What are speculations? Perhaps they are our own human reasoning, false philosophies, and intellectual doubts.

Perhaps it’s tuning into worldly wisdom, and the arguments used by false teachers. I believe it also includes any worldview, assumption, or skepticism that rejects God’s truth in favor of human logic.

What could every lofty thing mean for us?

Quite simply, in my opinion, its arrogant human pride, our own self-righteousness, and any and every big or little rebellion against God.

For ex: doing our own thing, having our own way when we know it’s not God’s way. That’s rebellion no matter how you look at it!

We simply cannot abide in Christ if we don’t take every one of those thoughts or attitudes captive and cast them off.

Abiding in Christ is reading His word and doing what it says.

There are so many scriptures that lead us into living God’s way, but I will list a few.

I’m going to include the one-anothers.

Mark 9:50 – be at peace with one another, simply not easy at times, with some people

John 13:34 – love one another, again not easy with some people, they just rub you the wrong way right?

         Also mentioned in: John 13:35; John 15:12, 17; Romans 13:8 – love one another

Romans 12:10 – be devoted to one another; give preference to one another in honor. A challenge at the best of time once we’ve set our minds on one thing, yet feeling a nudge from God?

Romans 12:16 – be of the same mind to one another; do not be proud, think more highly of yourself!

Romans 14:13 – do not judge one another,  every opinion we have of another is a judgment; good or bad, it’s a judgment, and if we tell another what those opinions are, we are then gossiping, perhaps leading into slander?

Romans 14:19 – we pursue things which make for peace and the building up of one another

Romans 15:7 – accept one another, as Christ accepted us, hmm, the homeless, the foreigners flocking into our city, the radically different, or younger generations? Not easy is it?

Let’s move onto Love in 1 Cor 13:

Love is patient, kind, is not jealous, does not brag and is not arrogant.

Love does not act unbecomingly, does not seek it’s own (way), is not provoked, does not pay attention to a wrong suffered (forgive), does not rejoice in unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.

If we are consciously pursuing a life of abiding in Christ, we will follow and obey the above. We will stop and check our attitude when wronged, judged, don’t get our own way, or are provoked.

Abiding in Christ take conscious effort in everything we say and do. We must be vigilant with our attitude and our thoughts.

Abiding in Christ means we intentionally practice being deeply connected to Jesus for spiritual strength, and it means relying on His grace rather than our own striving.

Remembering that His ways and His thoughts are higher than ours, we must simply choose to obey His Word, those are His ways and His thoughts.

Do we suffer from arrogance or pride? Do we tell lies, white or otherwise? How about wanting our own way? If someone says something snarky to us, what is our instant reaction inside? Do we get all snarky in our thoughts? Do we well up with anger and wanting to get back at them?

What if someone lies about us to others? Or gossips about us, hurts our reputation?

No matter what the circumstance, we take control (captive) of our thoughts and bring them into the obedience of Christ.

Two things I’ve learned over the years that have helped me in attitude and thought are 1. Forgiveness toward others, no matter how difficult it is, and doing it in the moment, and 2. Developing a heart attitude of thanksgiving.

1 Thessalonians 5:18: Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

 Ephesians 5:20: …giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

These are not suggestions, but it takes time for them to become 2nd nature. But when we do, that is one step closer to abiding in Christ.

Forgiveness? This also takes time to learn to forgive in the difficult times, but as Jesus forgave us while in the deepest of pains on the cross, so too can we forgive when we feel in the deepest of our pains, frustrations, hurts and angers.

Ephesians 4:32 . . .  and forgive one another, as God has forgiven you through Christ.

How many times do we forgive the other for hurting us over and over? For the same sin? In Matthew 18: 20-22 when Peter asked Jesus how many times do we forgive one who sins against us, Jesus replied, I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Since Jesus is our Supreme Example of abiding in the Father’s Love, we do as Jesus did, we have an attitude (with action) of thankfulness/gratitude and we forgive freely.

It’s my prayer these few words will help you on your own journey of Abiding in Christ.

Baruch Adonai,

A Bad Day? Really?

Lately I’ve been challenged by the verse in Rom 12:2 which says, And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

This morning I’m looking outside, and I thought this is a good day; it’s cloudy and cold and the weather network is predicting a rain/snow mixture by noon today.

So what makes this a good day? The birds are feeding at the feeder, flitting about the woods and their bird houses. I get to go out to spend time with a bunch of lovely ladies to study God’s Word. I have groceries to stop and pick up afterwards, then come home to my two sweet (my daughter calls them weirdos) little chihuahua pups who love me totally and unconditionally.

Not everyone would call this a good day. People who suffer with barometric headaches, or other debilitating physical issues, people with chronic pain, perhaps they just broke an arm or leg and are in terrible pain. Perhaps someone lost a loved one through death or the death of their marriage in divorce. There are all manner of ways people are suffering the world over. Terrible suffering, I have no idea about.

They would say they are having a bad day. As a child of God, I want to challenge that thought.

In Gen 1:4-5:  it says, And God saw the light, that [it was] good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

First off, in God there is no evil, no shiftiness, no ‘bad’ness, so I don’t believe He can create something bad.

If you look down to verse 31, it says, And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

So the challenge is to align our thoughts with the bible, God’s Word. This is just one small area, trust me there are so many more ways in which we conform to the world! But in this one instance, how about we start to think that our circumstances are bad or are a challenge, are painful physically or emotionally difficult rather than naming the whole day ‘bad’. I believe we speak against God’s Word by declaring ‘this is a bad day when God Himself declared it to be very good.

I know it can sound like I’m splitting hairs, or being very simplistic and that there may be more important things to consider how we are conforming to this world, but I point this out as just one small way to not conform to the world.

One last bible verse to consider is [2Co 10:5b, and [we are] taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

After all Christ has done for me, this is one small way I can align myself with Him and His word, to be obedient.

Bless you as you face the challenges of not conforming to this world. We are each on our own journey, I just share one small piece of my own journey.