{"id":239,"date":"2024-05-06T17:55:16","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T21:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deeperstill\/?p=239"},"modified":"2024-05-06T17:55:16","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T21:55:16","slug":"how-to-abide-in-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deeperstill\/2024\/05\/how-to-abide-in-christ\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Abide in Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Creating Images of Separation and Connection<\/h3>\n One of my first classes at George Fox Evangelical Seminary<\/a> was called \u201cKnowing Self Knowing God\u201d.\u00a0 We discussed the idea that while we respond to the reality of our situation, we also respond to our understanding of reality.\u00a0 I don\u2019t just interact with you as you are, I also interact with the image of you I have created in my mind.\u00a0 This image gathers data from you, and includes my own history, assumptions, and expectations.<\/p>\n We also create images of God.\u00a0 When we approach the reality of God, we are also responding to the image of God in our mind.\u00a0 We always bring our understanding of reality with us, mediated by our senses and our experiences.\u00a0 We can\u2019t navigate this life without it.<\/p>\n One aspect of the image of God that I had created was an assumption of separation.\u00a0 I believed that God was inherently disconnected from me, and even now I am still tempted to pray as if God is \u201cout there\u201d somewhere.<\/p>\n In John 15, Jesus paints a very different image<\/a>.\u00a0 It\u2019s an image that assumes connection.\u00a0 In this story, Jesus says, \u201cI am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Canva image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n* ** *Branches don\u2019t need to go looking for the vine; there is assumed connection.\u00a0 The vine is their source, and they are part of it.\u00a0 Like the vine, Jesus is constant, connected, and present to us.<\/p>\n Maintaining Connection in the Face of the Storm<\/h3>\n We are so easily overwhelmed by our lives, like when Peter steps out of the boat<\/a> in Matthew 14.\u00a0 He walks on water, and is immediately overwhelmed by the sight of a storm.\u00a0 He seemed to forget that Jesus was still right there with him.<\/p>\n Life can make us feel like a leaf blown on the wind.\u00a0 Like Peter, we can forget that we are branches on the vine of Jesus, and that he is the one who doesn\u2019t move. \u00a0Jesus is the one who is right here: constant, connected, and present to us.<\/p>\n When you are overwhelmed by the storms of life, what helps you to abide in Jesus?<\/p>\n \nPrayer is a way of turning to Jesus and abiding in him.<\/em><\/li>\nReading the Gospels and hearing Jesus\u2019s own words can be a way of abiding in him.<\/em><\/li>\nFollowing his commandment<\/a> to love as he loved us is a way of abiding in him.<\/em><\/li>\nEven getting away from people and going out in nature, as Jesus himself modeled<\/a>, can be a way of abiding in him.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n*** ** Remember that we are branches on the vine of Christ, and that he is the one who is constant, holding us.\u00a0 He is abiding in us already.\u00a0 Take a quiet moment to turn toward Jesus, assuming connection.<\/p>\n ** ***This act of abiding in Jesus is something we can do every day.\u00a0 It\u2019s something we can do in the middle of an argument, or while we\u2019re watching the news, or while driving our car.<\/p>\n Mapping out the Separation and Connection in our Journey<\/h3>\n***** ** When we do this, we are not just remembering who Jesus is.\u00a0 We are remembering who we are, by remembering that Christ abides in us.\u00a0 Part of this is turning inward toward Christ who abides in you, and the other part is turning outward toward Christ who abides in your neighbor.<\/p>\n ** *****Christ abides in us, and his love abides in us, it\u2019s already there within you.\u00a0 We don\u2019t need to create it, we don\u2019t need to force it, we\u2019re invited to remember who we are and what great power lives within. \u00a0We are the branches on the vine of the Kingdom of God.<\/p>\n Scripture tells us that a tree is known by its fruit<\/a>, and Christ tells us that the world will know we are Christians if we love<\/a> one another.<\/p>\n Because love is the fruit of those who abide in Christ.<\/p>\n Love is the fruit of the Kingdom of God.<\/p>\n When we are overwhelmed by the storms of life, our attention turns toward survival, self-defense, and self-preservation.\u00a0 This is a natural reaction.\u00a0 But when we abide in Christ, He invites us to turn our attention toward love.\u00a0 This is a spiritual response.\u00a0 .<\/p>\n This can be an exercise of looking back as a non-judgmental compassionate witness to our own story. \u00a0Acknowledge which seasons of your life were overwhelmed by storms, assumed separation from God, or just trying to survive.\u00a0 Name the seasons of life when there was assumed connection, and somehow you knew that Jesus was holding you, regardless of the storms.<\/p>\n Could you map out your journey, and name the times when you felt a leaf blown on the wind?<\/p>\n What helped you to remember that Jesus abides within you, grounding and growing you?<\/p>\n In this current season, is our attention only focused on survival, or are we turning toward Jesus and bearing life-giving fruit for our community and for the Kingdom of God?<\/p>\n Turning Toward Assumed Connection<\/h3>\n***** ** \u201cIf you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.\u201d John 15:7-8<\/em><\/p>\n ** What if this week, we trusted in this word from Jesus and asked for God\u2019s help to abide in him?\u00a0 To turn away from survival mode, and trust that his love working within us will accomplish more than we could possibly imagine?<\/p>\n ** For while we were yet sinners, Jesus took the form of a slave, gathering our sin and brokenness onto himself.\u00a0 In dying and rising again, he raised us up to freedom.\u00a0 We are set free, to not just survive but to have abundant life, grounded and rooted in him who is the source of our being.\u00a0 We can turn toward him every day until all creation turns toward him and is made new by love.<\/p>\n ** Lord, help us to turn towards you and abide in you, so that even in the midst of the storms of life, Jesus Christ the Good Vine will bear much fruit in us<\/em>.\u00a0 Amen<\/em>.<\/p>\n ** *****\u00a0<\/p>\n To read more posts, visit my column\u00a0here<\/a>.\u00a0 Check out my writing in \u201cSoul Food: Nourishing Essays on Contemplative Living and Leadership<\/a>\u201d, or listen to me read a portion of my writing for the podcast\u00a0Read, Pray, Write<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Creating Images of Separation and Connection One of my first classes at George Fox Evangelical Seminary was called \u201cKnowing Self Knowing God\u201d.\u00a0 We discussed the idea that while we respond to the reality of our situation, we also respond to our understanding of reality.\u00a0 I don\u2019t just interact with you as you are, I also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5444,"featured_media":242,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[23,57,113,116,14,119],"class_list":["post-239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bible","tag-jesus","tag-journey","tag-map","tag-prayer","tag-survival"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Abide in Christ Abide in Him<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We can look at our own lives and the life of the Church and recognize if we are abiding in Christ as He abides in us.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deeperstill\/2024\/05\/how-to-abide-in-christ\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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