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)

Our Home – Abide Series – Part 2

Go to PART 1  |  PART 2

Continue, endure, remain and stay; to make one’s self at home: Abide.

My kids ‘abide’ in our home. The day I found out I was carrying them, room was made for them in our lives and house. 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 stack the dishwasher), 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.

Too often, we equate abiding with performing. Living (behaving) righteously. All the time. Doing the right thing. Every. Single. Day.

Apart from being exhausting, it’s impossible.

We’re trying to start a podcast. We’ve been talking about it, trying to figure out what the general feel of it will be, the kinds of things we’d like to talk about. Every time we sit down to record Episode One (the next try will be our fifth…), we end up having a huge fight. Ha! Yep. Every.Single.Time.So.Far. Let’s hope our next attempt results in actual podcast episode!

We don’t always behave perfectly, or even well. Neither do our children. But sinlessness is not the point of our relationship with the Divine. CONNECTION is. Abiding. In a home sense, it's all included – the fights, the joy, the struggle, the forgiveness… they are all a 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” (abiding); to make yourself at home in the presence and awareness of Christ. It’s a place of humility, growth, learning and maturing; faith and forgiveness; having your eyes open. Stuff gets worked out along the way. Just like it does with our kids. 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 – rebirth. We don’t have to work to gain our salvation – our place in the home. We are born into its awareness by faith. We live in an ever-changing world, in a body that will experience ups and downs, in circumstances that we can’t predict, but always and ever in the heart and love of God.

It’s the family home. Our original origin.

Dwell there. Stay awake and aware; engaged in prayer and connected by faith.

Abide.

Over to you. Leave us your comments below.

Written by Lizzy Milani

Find us:
Instagram: @lizzy.milani @jessemilani and @pocketfuel
Twitter: @lizzymilani @jessemilani and @pktfuel

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