What does it mean to abide in God? How can we abide in him every day of our lives? What does abide mean? How is it defined and how can we apply it in our daily lives? Have you ever given serious thought to abiding in God?
The word abide means to remain in, continue, stay, dwell, or reside. To abide in God is to remain in him, continue in him, stay in him, dwell in him, or reside in him. Regardless of which one of those you focus on, they all mean to be in God every moment of every day.
That can be a challenge. Especially when our personal feelings are hurt, we are offended, or we are wounded. It is even more challenging when we see the words in 1 John 4. He states that in order to abide in God we must abide in love. Whoa! It is even more difficult to love the person who has offended us.
We must remember this, the love John speaks of is a decision to love. It means that we decide to be benevolent toward others or show goodwill toward others. In other words, it is not emotion but action. It is our decision to continue to act with graciousness toward others, to forgive others, and to be the hands and feet of Christ to others, regardless of our circumstances.
John tells us we cannot love God and not love our brother and sister in Christ. He bluntly states we are liars if we claim otherwise in 1 John 4:20. Therefore, let’s love each member of the body of Christ and thereby abide in God.
I pray we all choose to love one another. I pray we choose love over hatred. I pray each one of us will love our brothers and sisters and abide in God and his love for us. Love one another. Choose love over hatred. Abide in love. Abide in God.
1 John 4:16 God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.
Marty Pressey 