What does it mean to abide in Christ?

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me." —John 15:4

"Abide" is an active verb meaning to live, continue, or remain. So in the context of a relationship with Jesus Christ, it means to live, continue, or remain in relationship with Him. Once we have accepted salvation through Jesus, we are biblically described as living "in Christ" (Romans 8:1; 2 Corinthians 5:17) and in a relationship with Him forever (John 10:28-29).

While we may wander off our spiritual path, it's important to remember that God will never move away from us. We may stray, but because we have the Holy Spirit within us, we will always be "in Christ." We ought to intentionally foster a more intimate relationship with God in response to His love for us.

Abiding in the Bible

Early biblical leaders of the nation of Israel give us some good examples of what it looks like to "abide" in our relationship with God. Abraham "abided the Lord" as he trusted in God's many promises (Genesis 12-25). Moses followed God's guidance by going to the wilderness to be alone with the Lord for forty days and forty nights (Exodus 34).

David's poetic description of an intimate relationship with God is also notable in Psalm 1. Throughout this Psalm, the "blessed" person is described as someone who delights in God's Word, meditates on it daily, and, like a tree, bears fruit abundantly.

In our life, we should seek to delight in God's Word. This might look like reading the Bible on a continual basis, studying it, and memorizing it.

Abiding on the Vine

When we become children of God, we are connected to the "true vine" who is Jesus Christ (John 15:1-5). That means we can enjoy a relationship that can never be snatched away from us (John 10:28-29), and, through the work of the Holy Spirit, we can produce spiritual fruit (Galatians 5:16-17, 22-25). Apart from the vine of Christ, we cannot grow or bear spiritual fruit (John 15:4).

Just like our bodies are controlled by our head, spiritually speaking, Jesus is our head. He alone is worthy of our praise for our spiritual growth (Galatians 3:2-3; Hebrews 10:10). God alone can spiritually nurture us (Colossians 1:18).

Abiding While in the World

In a world with so many distractions and lies, it can be difficult to depend on God as our foundation for our beliefs, motives, thoughts, etc. But we must strive to cling to His promises as our solid foundation of trust and purpose. Instead of leaning on worldly philosophies or accepting deceitful claims as truth, we must hold fast to the fact that Christ alone is our solid foundation (1 Corinthians 3:11).

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." — Romans 12:2

Abiding on the Journey

"Whoever says 'I know [Jesus]' but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him... Whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked." —1 John 2:4-6

In 1 John 2:4-6, the word "abide" means "knowing" Christ—being familiar with His teaching, His commands, and His ways. Not only that, but we are called to action—living out His teaching, obeying His commands, and choosing His ways. If we really know God, we won't just go through the motions, we will actually obey Him. Our goal should be to model our lives after Christ.

"Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life." —1 John 2:24-25

In 1 John 2:24-25, John equates abiding in the Father and the Son with having the promise of eternal life. They are one and the same! Ultimately, abiding in, remaining in, and knowing Christ are all linked to our salvation. We should live according to our new created identity that has been granted to us in and by Christ.

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TL;DR

"Abide" is an active verb meaning to live, continue, or remain. So in the context of a relationship with Jesus, it means to live, continue, or remain in relationship with Him. Once we have accepted salvation through Jesus, we are biblically described as living "in Christ" (Romans 8:1; 2 Corinthians 5:17) and in a relationship with Him forever (John 10:28-29). While we may wander off our spiritual path, God will never move away from us. We ought to intentionally foster a more intimate relationship with God in response to His love for us. The more we get to know Jesus, the more we will want to strive to be like Him and produce good spiritual fruit in our lives.

Writer: Grace Murphy

Grace is a passionate writer and musician who desires to radiate Christ's light in a generation of teens and young adults navigating their life in a world of spiritual darkness. Recent founder of Christian rock band Lighthouse Saints, she desires to spread the message of God’s truth and love through her songwriting and voice! Grace is also an aspiring freelancer who has worked professionally in writing, editing, and social media content creation. In her free time, Grace enjoys meeting new people, reading lots of books, jamming out with her friends, and writing (sometimes overly dramatic) poetry.

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