- RADICAL BLESSINGS: Don’t Do THIS to Make Life Changes
- RADICAL BLESSINGS: How to Stick It Out with God
- RADICAL BLESSINGS: Who Owns Your Salvation?
- RADICAL BLESSINGS: Why Prayers for Patience Are Dangerous
- RADICAL BLESSINGS: How to Get Real with Our Faith Life
- RADICAL BLESSINGS: Read This When Your Stuff is Flying Every Which Way
- RADICAL BLESSINGS: Do You Use a Holy Woobie?
- RADICAL BLESSINGS: How to Light Yourself on Fire
RADICAL BLESSINGS
Abide in God’s Love: How to Stick It Out with God
Day 1 Reading: John 15:1-17
Click here to read this verse on Biblegateway.com.
What Does Abide Mean?
The Greek word used in this passage is similar to our word for “stay” or “remain”, with a connotation similar to staying in someone’s home and receiving hospitality.
The Miriam Webster definition for abide:
Abide (v)
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- to accept or bear
- to stay or live somewhere
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- to remain or continue
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- to wait for
- to accept without objection
No matter how you look at it, there is a clear picture.
We need to stick with God. Patience and acceptance are part of the equation, too.
Radical Abiding: How to Stick It Out with God
A few months ago I took a part-time on-call job working for a hospice agency providing Companion Care. Companion Care workers offer respite to family members or come if family members are not available. We sit with dying clients, typically during their final few days, often their last day, usually at night. We stay with clients so they will not be alone.
When I walk into these situations, I often feel ill-equipped to the task. These dear people are in their most vulnerable hours. What will I say? What do I have to offer?
I’ve learned so much from my husband Mike as we’ve gone together to his pastoral visits to hospitals, nursing homes, and funerals over the years. He has reminded me many times when I feel nervous about what to say, “Your presence is the best gift you can give. It’s okay if you don’t say anything. Just be there.”
Last week I spent an overnight with the sweetest woman who is nearing the end of her life. She had been experiencing anxiety. She slept off and on, and when she woke up, she wanted to know someone was there.
“Stay with me,” she asked, throughout the night. “I’m right here,” I assured her, again and again. “I won’t leave, not all night long, I promise.” In the morning she said to me, “Thank you for staying with me. I never could have made it through the night without you.”
This is what is means to abide.
To What Are You Clinging?
Are you clinging to God with everything in you, desperately holding on to him for dear life? Are you staying with Him, no matter what?
I wish I could say that’s what I do, but so many times I do not.
Instead of abide, I high-tail-it-and-run-off from God. I do my own thing, complain, wear myself out, sit on my high horse, or wrap myself in self-righteous busy work.
God is giving me another chance today, and I’m taking it. I feel the words of this verse washing over me and refreshing all that muck in my soul.
The Holy Spirit gives me the power to abide in God’s Love.
God is calling to you today. He’s saying to you, and to me, “Stay with me.”
Will you answer His call?
Come back tomorrow for Day 2: Who Owns Your Salvation?
Have you downloaded your Abide in God’s Love Phone Wallpapers yet? They are free! Get them here.
- RADICAL BLESSINGS: Don’t Do THIS to Make Life Changes
- RADICAL BLESSINGS: How to Stick It Out with God
- RADICAL BLESSINGS: Who Owns Your Salvation?
- RADICAL BLESSINGS: Why Prayers for Patience Are Dangerous
- RADICAL BLESSINGS: How to Get Real with Our Faith Life
- RADICAL BLESSINGS: Read This When Your Stuff is Flying Every Which Way
- RADICAL BLESSINGS: Do You Use a Holy Woobie?
- RADICAL BLESSINGS: How to Light Yourself on Fire
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