1 John 2:28 “And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.”
John calls on followers of Christ that he affectionally calls little children to ABIDE IN CHRIST. This idea of abiding in Christ was conveyed by Christ Himself during His last evening with His disciples. As He spoke to them about leaving them He tells how to be fruitful. Recall from John 15:4-5 His words, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
A phrase I put with John 15:4-5 is ABIDE TO ABOUND!! The one who abides will abound with fruit. ABIDE in Him TO ABOUND for Him.
Now it should be our desire to be found faithful to the Lord and fruitful for the Lord. Paul prayed for the Colossians that they might walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, and being fruitful in every good work. Paul, himself, wanted to have fruit from his ministry in Rome. (Romans 1:13)
While it should be a desire to be fruitful we should also have a desire to never be found unfruitful. Paul wrote to Titus in Titus 3:14 to “let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful.” Peter wrote in 2 Peter 1:8 that by taking a set of actions the believer would abound, and will neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I think the call to abide in Christ is so that a believer is not unfruitful which would lead to one being ashamed at His coming. Thus learning to ABIDE in Him is one of the most important lessons to learn and apply. By being completely connected and reliant on the Lord one can be used by the Lord to accomplish His work. Remember that you are the branch and as a branch, you must fully rely on the vine to give you what you need. Don’t neglect prayer and Bible reading as these are keys to abiding.
I remind you that you will be tempted to do God’s work without Him. Your flesh, the world, and the devil will tell you that YOU CAN DO IT. John 15:5c says, “For without Me you can do nothing.” For an illustration of this check out Numbers 14:40-45 as the Israelites tried to go into the promised land without God. It turned out terrible for them. Don’t attempt to do God’s Word without God!
An essential to your Christian life is abiding in Him!
Continue Strong abiding in Him,
And remember to DATE the Word