And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. 1 John 2:28 (NIV)
Christ at Home – Part 2
Go to PART 1
To abide means to “continue, endure, remain and stay. Someone who does not leave the realm or sphere in which he finds himself – to take up permanent residence or to make one’s self at home.”
My kids ‘abide' in our home. The day I found out I was carrying them, room was made for them in our hearts and home. Not so much ‘made,’ but rather ‘opened up.’ When I gave birth to them both and brought them home from the hospital, they belonged in our home with us. Not as a piece of furniture, or someone to do a certain task (although, I can’t wait until they can hang out the washing… haha!), but as part of our family, almost an extension of ourselves. The only thing they have to do to abide in our home is to live in it.
A lot of the time, ‘abiding’ (in a faith sense) is attributed to performing. Living (behaving) righteously. All the time. Doing the right thing. Every. Single. Day.
Apart from being exhausting, it’s impossible.
We’re renovating our beach shack, and this morning our builder was over going through some of the plans for us. We came to talking about a doorway we want to put in and we quickly discovered that Jesse and I had different thoughts about where this doorway should go and how big it should be.
The builder left.
And we lost it.
At each other.
You know what I mean, right?
We had a big fight about it.
We don’t always behave perfectly, and neither do our children. But not sinning and perfection are NOT the point of our connection with the divine. CONNECTION is. Abiding. We don’t abide because we are perfect. We dwell with God because of love and faith. And in a home sense, its all included – the fights, the joy, the struggle, the forgiveness… it's part of ‘abiding.'
Paul wrote to the Philippians,
“Yet indeed I also count all things a loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith…” (Phil 3:8-9)
“That I may gain Christ and be found in Him” – sounds like “abiding”… to make yourself at home in the presence and awareness of Christ. It’s not about perfection. It’s a place of humility, growth, learning and maturing; faith and forgiveness; having your eyes open. The other stuff gets worked out along the way. Just like it does with our kids. And as they (and we) learn, make mistakes, grow, then learn and make more mistakes and grow again, grace keeps us together.
Christ opens our lives up to God, bringing us to a place of rebirth where we don’t have to work to gain our salvation – our place in the home. We are born into it by faith. And by faith we live in an ever-changing world; in a body that will experience many ups and downs; in circumstances that we can’t predict, but never leaving the heart and love of God.
It’s the family home. Our original origin.
You make yourself at home in God just by being at home. It’s like driving in the driveway, getting out of the car, unlocking the front door and going inside. Don’t turn off that awareness in dark times, in euphoric moments, during the confusion, or in the middle of the mundane… but dwell there. Stay awake and aware; engaged in prayer and connected by faith.
Abide.
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