I have always loved John 15 as it talks about our abiding in Him; the word "abiding" carrying the meaning of our continually remaining in Him. "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. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full." (John 15:4-11)
A precursor to these words in chapter 15 are these words in chapter 14: "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."(John 14:21) We know that God is omnipresent and all-seeing. That knowledge is our challenge to walk reverently before Him, relating to other people with love, justice and good works. But in this verse in John 14, Jesus is saying to us that He wants an intimate, tender, personal relationship with us in an even richer dimension of God's presence. Here in verse 21 we see a move from the objective reality of God's presence to the subjective relationship of God's abiding personal presence. This is the platform from which we are able to call on and experience the manifest presence of our Lord in both our private and public worship.
God's awesome resurrection power and presence become reality in our abiding; leading to His abiding power and presence as we call on and anticipate with great expectation His manifest presence in our midst as abiding-worshipping believers. Simply put, our abiding leads to His abiding, which leads to His manifest presence among us. Praise be to the Lord! mjm
