"And now, little children, be remaining in Him, in order that if He should appear, we should have confidence and we should not be ashamed from Him in the coming of Him."
-We have a part to play in all of this. And it’s more than merely naming the name of Jesus. It’s more than just raising your hand or going forward in a meeting. It’s more that simply being baptized and walking away with your fire insurance policy intact. We’re not just talking about a get-out-of-jail free card that we pull out when the chips are down and we’ve exhausted all our other options. Be remaining in Him, John says. Be remaining, abiding in Jesus. It's the ol’ vine and the branches (John 15.1-6), and Jesus is the Vine. All of us branches, our goal, our primary job is, remain vitally connected to the Vine, to Jesus, drawing our life-giving fruit-bearing sustenance from Him.
-There are two sides to this coin. There is God’s part. He creates and secures the connection, right? He connects us to Jesus, puts us in Jesus when we truly believe, when we put our trust in Him. For those who have truly trusted in Jesus, that connection is secure. And of course He brings the increase as we do the abiding thing. But that’s where there’s this other side of the coin, the part we have to play. Abide in Me, Jesus says (John 15.4). And John repeats it here - be abiding in Him. Any relationship must be maintained by both parties. And for our part, we know full well when we are not doing our part. The upshot of that is shame. Isn’t that what happens when we get caught in the act? If the Lord were to show up unannounced (which, by the way, He told us He is in fact going to do - Luke 12.40), and were to catch us in the middle of our lukewarm devotion and uber-distracted busy-ness with so many unnecessary things, would we not be ashamed? Surely this is one of the reasons so many believers are not more eager for His return, is it not? Sure, our eagerness meter goes up whenever brokenness rears its ugly mug, but how about the rest of our days? Are we generally and increasingly ready and waiting for the return of our Bridegroom? Or are we not playing around, making mudpies in a slum, settling for and scraping by on cotton candy, surviving on spiritual scraps, hurrying about our daily lives, work and school and friends and entertainment and barely a few minutes for our breathtakingly glorious Savior? Nary a whiff of the supernatural. I wonder how many of us might be willing to settle for just shooting the Lord a text? We don’t even talk to each other as much anymore, do we? Not railing on technology, mind you. But isn’t our devotion too often more of just a tame humdrum monotony, while the multitudes outside looking askance at Christ, hungry for a reason to come crowding in, are left to wonder what’s all the hubbub about? What’s the big deal?
-Jesus says be cold or hot (Revelation 3.15). But not lukewarm. Not life like this. Church, are we hot and boiling? Am I hot and boiling (cf Romans 12.11)? Am I leaving it all out there, full-on and full-out for Jesus? Little children, are we abiding? Am I abiding in Christ with full-on dependence and devotion and desperation, fully aware that apart from Him there is nothing I can do, and that just one day in His courts is better than a thousand anywhere else (Psalm 84.10), that in His presence alone there is fulness of joy (Psalm 16.11)? Do I truly know this? Am I living into this truth? Surely Lord, You are the air I breathe, and I’m lost without You... But how desperate am I...?
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