Observation: The writer of 1 John is likely either the same person or closely related to the writer of the Gospel of John. In both books, the word "abide" is essential. Even in this short passage, it shows up many times. God's teaching and God's anointing abide in believers. Believers abide in the Son and in the Father. Abide means to dwell, to live, and also to rest. I think of abiding as our default or home base: where we first wake up in the morning; what we do when there's nothing to do; where we go when there's no other place to go.
Application: I'm having a lot of memories coming back from two years ago, when much of the world first went on lock-down in response to COVID-19. We all had to "abide" at home for a few weeks, and even after that, getting out into the world was a slow process. It continues to be. We couldn't venture out to work, to socialize, or even to worship. During that time, I think we learned about our "abiding place." Not just the physical space of our homes, but of where our hearts and minds automatically go in times of trouble, which tends to be where we spend the most time when things are normal, too. It could be a fearful and anxious place. It could be faithful and loving place. But it tends to be our home place in normal times. A funny example of this instinct is from the horror comedy "Sean of the Dead," starring Simon Pegg. The title character and his friends fin themselves in the midst of a Zombie apocalypse, and for no logical reason, they decide to hide out in the pub where they spend much of their free time. It's their abiding place.
If God is our abiding place, that means God is kind of our mental and spiritual home base. Prayer and Bible study, worship, acts of service and love, sharing faith, advocating for vulnerable people, become more instinctive than forced. When our world gets turned upside down--like, for instance, in a huge unprecedented public health crisis--one who abides in God finds a way to continue doing that, even when they can't do it in the way they're used to. Of course, it always takes intention to create that kind of innate response: nobody but Jesus abides in God by their very nature. We have to work on it. But as we work on it, we find that god also abides in us, and we do find ourselves reacting in surprising ways under pressure.
Prayer: God, abide in me, and help me to abide in you. In Jesus' name, amen.
I like the phrase that God is 'our spiritual home base". It's always good to have someplac or someone to go home to.
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