Abide. What does that word mean to you? Merriam-Webster defines abide as:

• To accept or bear
• To stay or live somewhere
• To remain or continue

Stay with me, because it was the synonyms and antonyms that caught my attention.

Synonyms: stay, dwell, hang around, remain, stick around, tarry

Antonyms: bail, bail out, bug out, buzz (off), clear off, clear out, cut out, depart, exit, get off, go, go off, leave, move, pack, peel off, pike, pull out, pull off, push off, push on, quit, shove (off), take off, vamoose, walk out

Our culture does not abide well. We are the anti-abiding culture. Examples? The divorce rate. Split families. Job turnover.

Thankfully, God is different.

In Hebrews 13:5, the author, quoting from Deuteronomy, says, “Never will I [God] leave you; never will I forsake you.” Brother Lawrence and Frank Laubach in the book Practicing God’s Presence advocate being mindful of God’s presence with you each and every moment of each and every day. Jesus takes it a step further and gives us a word picture, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5 NASB)

In Romans 11, Paul speaks of how we as Gentile believers were grafted into God’s family, pictured by an olive tree, “and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root.” (Romans 11:17 NIV)

To receive nourishment, we must abide.

Stay put.

Graft in.

Become one with Him.

Is staying put so hard? To simply receive and grow?

Too many branches break off on their own accord and go wandering. They wonder why the life within withers and dies.

So abide.

Commit for keeps.

Stay connected to your Vine and allow His Spirit to empower budding, blossoming, and fruit-bearing as a result of the ultimate connection to the Savior.

Questions:

What’s your branch status?

Thriving? Fair? Dry?

Where are you?

Wandering? Distracted? Connected?

How do you need to connect?

What hinders your connecting and abiding?

Tweetables:

It was the antonyms that caught my attention. Click To Tweet
We are the anti-abiding culture. Click To Tweet
Is staying put so hard? To simply receive and grow? Click To Tweet
Too many branches break off on their own accord. They wander and wither. Click To Tweet