Each month, we’re going to reflect on what we’ve been reading in the Know His Word reading plan. We’ll call this Reading His Word. You’ll hear excerpts from Bible studies and reflections from our team and others reading alongside us. This month we’re sharing some reflections adapted from Finding I AM, Lysa TerKerust’s Bible study on the seven I AM statements found in the Book of John. Enjoy!
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, ESV
Some of your translations will use remain here instead of abide—whatever word your version of the Bible may say, this word comes from the Greek root word menó which means: to stay, abide, remain, wait.1
I don’t know about you, but I am not the best at this particular verb. I far prefer terms like go, move, be productive, keep the wheels turning. I mean, there is so much to do every day, right? To wait, remain, stay, and abide seem like the opposite of productivity.
I’m asked lots of questions when I meet people at conferences. Practical questions, like, “How did you get started speaking and writing?” Heart-wrenching questions—”How did you forgive those that hurt you so much?” Hard questions, such as, “Why would God let this happen?” And honest questions, like, “How can I find God, connect with God, in the midst of my everyday life?”
It’s that last question that compels me to do what I do every day. It’s what brings me to sit at the computer and tangle with words and truths and vulnerable admissions. It’s what compels me to split my heart wide open and let people see the not so great stuff about me mixed with the gracious goodness of God.
Because if I can help a soul find an authentic, honest way to connect with God, all the other questions will settle down a bit. Wait more patiently. Maybe decide it’s okay if they go unanswered.
Connection with God is such a deeply personal and uniquely individual process. Surely it can’t be reduced to a few points and a poem. But there are three words that stir me. Move me. Show me. Propel me. Three words I hear Jesus saying over and over: “Abide in Me.”
Tucked in these three words, four syllables, nine letters is the wild secret of deep connection with God. If we want to know God, we have to abide in Him.
How do we abide in Him?
Follow His instructions, His heart, and His example.
Not just follow along as we mindlessly repeat the words of the Jesus songs and scribble some notes during the pastor’s sermon. No. Really follow. Follow hard. Follow passionately. Follow fully. Follow with engaged minds and willing hearts and open hands and ready feet.
And where can we start this kind of following?
By asking God to let us see Him.
When we pray, we invite the divine presence of the Almighty God to do life with us that day. Watch for Him. Look for Him. Make the connection of things that happen as direct evidence of His hand at work. In us. Around us. In spite of us. Ask Him to help you see His activity as you seek to follow more fully. And He will. Rest assured God isn’t trying to hide from us. He is waiting to be seen by us.
- Strong’s NT 3306; http://biblehub.com/greek/3306.htm.
Want to read more from Lysa TerKeurst on the Book of John? Check out the full Bible study here!
