Abiding

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. John 15:10 (KJV)

We don’t hear the word “abide” much any more, and we seem to have only a vague sense of it’s meaning. But the dictionary tells us that abide, as it is used here, means:

  1 :  to remain stable or fixed in a state
2:  to continue in a place :  to sojourn

The verse here is a common pattern found in scripture. There is a condition and a promise.  The condition is “if you keep my commandments” and the promise is “you shall remain stable in my love.” Does this mean that God will stop loving you if you fail in keeping the commandments?

Of course not.  We have ample evidence in John 3:16,17.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (KJV)

The world was not keeping God’s commandments, but He loved the world anyway – and not just the world, but every single individual person in the world.

Again in Romans 5:8 we are told

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

So if God’s love for us does not change, what’s this abiding all about?  God’s love is not static. We must receive it for it to be any benefit to us. If we are not striving to keep His commandments, it’s difficult for us to receive His love, much less respond to it and spread it to others.

When we are disobedient, we have a hard time hearing His voice. We are listening to other voices in the world which tempt us to do things that are not in God’s plan. The commandments become our yardstick. We compare what the voices are telling us with what God has revealed in His word. If they match, we can move forward safely. If they don’t match, we need to regroup and re-think and change our actions.

The secret is that when obedience to His commandments becomes our second nature, we know at first hearing which voices are telling the truth and which are trying to lead us astray.

Keeping His commandments is the exercise that keeps us spiritually fit and firmly established in God’s love. Then we can receive His love, respond to His love, and reflect His love to the world around us.

Father, God,

Help us to remain faithful in keeping Your commandments. Grant us a sense of Your boundless unfailing love. Give us the grace to reflect that love to all we meet.

In Jesus’ most precious name.

Amen.

Who Will Not Learn From History

Focus verses: Psalm 78:58-72

Psalm 78 is a recounting of the Lord’s munificence to the children of Israel, the way he led them out of Egypt, how he fed them in the wilderness, his driving the inhabitants of the promised land out before them. And it is a litany of Israel’s infidelities to the Lord as well. This telling ends with the rule of David and praise for his skill and integrity of heart.

It seems strange to me that God should claim that David was a man after His own heart. David did some really horrible things. He stole another man’s wife. He conspired to have that man killed. That’s breaking two of the ten commandments right there, and it flowed out of his breaking a third. “You shall not covet.”

But God remembers who and what man is. He remembers our frailties. And He looks upon our grief and repentance with mercy rather than judgment.

My grandmother used to say “those who will not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” The children of Israel are a prime example. They walked around that mountain time and time again. God would redeem them. They would prosper. Then they would add other things as idols in their lives. God would be pushed aside. And He would have to send them into exile again before they found out that He was the foundation of their lives.

How many things have we put before God in our lives? Money, position, family, possessions, ambitions? Can we take stock and say truthfully that God is first in our lives? If not, we would be well advised to change our priorities. The first commandment of Jesus is to love the Lord with all your heart and mind and strength. (My paraphrase.)

Let us make the Lord our first love and all else will fall into place according to His plans for our lives.

Father, God,

Help us to remember to seek You first. Not your favors or blessings, just Your presence in our lives. Whatever happens, we can survive and thrive if we are close to You. Grant us the blessing of closeness to You.

In Jesus’ most precious name.
Amen.

Promised Forgiv eness

Focus verses: Hosea 14:1-9

Despite the number of times Israel has strayed from the Lord, He promises forgiveness if Israel will simply return to Him.

That means to seek the Lord, to turn away from the idols they have chased, to truly repent of their unfaithfulness, to observe His commandments — essentially to love Him above all else.

We have a problem with this. Loving a God whom you cannot see or hear or feel or touch is not as easy as loving something that has physical substance that you can see and feel. God is a spirit. But we live in a physical world. It’s all too easy to get wrapped up in the things we can see and to forget that the real battle is in the spiritual plane.

The physical world makes demands on us. Things need tending; people require our attention; jobs must be fulfilled. All these things are important, but none so important as our spiritual well-being.

We can serve this portion of our lives only by our fidelity to God and to His edicts. Nothing less will do. Our return to Him will be rewarded by His forgiveness of our infidelities. He has said it.

Father, God,

Thank you for never changing. Thank you that You forgive those who repent and turn to You to heal their spirits. Grant that we may see the wisdom in loving and serving You alone.

In Jesus’ most precious name.
Amen.