I am a big movie quoter. I love pulling lines from movies for certain situations. There some really funny scenes in the movie “Dumb and Dumber.” I always chuckle at the part where Jim Carey is standing with his co-star at the airport. Jim is her limo driver to the airport. He gets out of the limo and gives Mary this huge hug and states, “How I hate good-byes.” It is a very funny and awkward moment in the movie.
As funny as that line is, I really do hate good-byes. I am not a fan when things end. I don’t like saying good-bye to good times with friends after a good meal or a coffee date. I get bummed when a fun party or barbeque ends for the night. I hate when things end such as: good movies, sunsets, vacations, adventures, good conversations, and even some life dreams.
We are constantly experiencing things with endings. After these things end, we move on, we carry on to the next thing. The only common denominator going to the next thing with you, is you.
There is an invitation Christ gives every person that goes against our experiences of endings. Christ invites every person to “abide in him.” This invitation has no end. Conversations with Jesus never have to cease. His invitation is to remain in him. The invitation is not even to abide WITH him, but IN him.
How do we shift our mentality from the experience of endings to the infinitely on going?
There are many things that might have enabled a person to dismiss ths invitation. One reason could be a lack of understanding for the invitation. You might have experienced disappointment in the inviter. Maybe you only said yes to the invitation because out of fear, or because you were in the middle of a crisis. Once those things settled down, you might have moved on. Maybe the blessings you once enjoyed have become trite and lost.
I have experienced many of the above. I have not fully understood the invitation. I admit that I still do not fully understand what abiding really means. What I do know is that when I find myself in a place of wondering where did that abiding go, it is because I wandered and not because the inviter has changed the invitation. When I wander I miss out on the blessings of abiding him.
God invites us to remain in him because he loves us and wants us for eternity. God wants us to experience unbroken communion with him. There is such intimacy and depth to be known if we would accept the invitation and abide in him for life.
What does it mean to abide in him? What does abiding look like?
Abiding looks like living your life after his example. It looks like choosing integrity when a circumstance might tempt you to choose otherwise. Abiding is serving him above all else. It looks like believing in what he thinks about you more than others. It is caring about what God thinks overall. Abiding is being faithful and committed to your relationship with him. If wandering looks like a lack of understanding than abiding is pursuing understanding. A person, who abides, fights to keep unbroken communion with the inviter.
I crave knowing communion and intimacy with God. I crave the exhale that comes from a life freely lived IN him. I know abiding in him would be a surrender of control. My prayer is for me to really understand what it means to abide in him. I desire to live a life that looks like that.
What keeps you from abiding IN him?
What choices could you make to abide in him?
Tracee Persiko 