LoginKey Scripture:
John 15:9. “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.
Key Idea:
… some have told of a wonderful change, by which their life of continual failure and stumbling had been changed into a very blessed experience of being kept and strengthened and made exceeding glad. If you asked them how it was this great blessing came to them, many would tell you it was simply this, that they were led to believe that this abiding in Christ’s love was meant to be a reality, and that they were made willing to give up everything for it, and then enabled to trust Christ to make it true to them.
– Murray
Pray for revelation:
Obey and abide. Gracious Lord, teach me this lesson, that it is only through knowing Thy will one can know Thy heart, and only through doing that will one can abide in Thy love. Lord, teach me that as worthless as is the doing in my own strength, so essential and absolutely indispensable is the doing of faith in Thy strength, if I would abide in Thy love.
– Murray
Key words:
Love, Abide
Love is an amazing thing. When you are the recipient of love, there is nothing better that can compare. True, unconditional, wide open love that comes to us for no reason at all. It comes just for being yourself. Nothing is asked in return. Just sit there and enjoy its benefits.
What about this command to abide? Isn’t that the catch? Yes and no. God’s love reaches to the far corners of his creation. He loves us no matter where we are. We feel the full affects of his love as we turn to face him. We feel those affects increasingly as we move toward him. To keep feeling those affects, it is only natural to want to abide, to set up our house and live near to him. Being told to obey God’s commands, or to abide in the true vine only seems like a demand when we abide far from him.
Love is our greatest gift we can recieve, and our greatest spiritual gift that we can share with others. For now, just draw near to God, learn about his true love and obey by staying near to him.
Categories: Discipleship