When I first became a Christian, my life didn’t seem to have an obvious change. I had been a generally “good” person, so the change in my life had been small and only those closest to me could see the difference. There were lots of things in my life that didn’t seem “that bad” that I didn’t want to give up.

I had some Christian friends suggest that I should listen to Christian music instead of secular music, but I couldn’t see what was wrong with the secular music and I preferred it. One day I was singing along with the radio and the Spirit woke me up and made me pay attention to the words of the song. I’d never really paid attention. I just liked the tune. Once I focused on the words, I was appalled. Those words would never come out of my mouth in a conversation, but I was happily belting it out at full volume in my car. Suddenly, I didn’t like that music so much anymore, and I’ve become much pickier about any secular music I listen to.

Over the approximately 40 years that I’ve been a Christian, there have been lots of changes in my life – some big and some small. I’d like to think I parent a little like God. With my sons, especially my special needs son, I have learned to pick my battles. If I corrected everything about which he needed correcting all at once, all I would do is correct him. He would get discouraged and give up. He would also probably hate me. I’ve learned to just focus on the most critical errors and overlook the small errors (for now). Over time, as he learns to correct the major errors, I can focus on the smaller things that also need correcting. God has worked similarly in my life.

With us, God sanctifies us over time fixing one thing after another, helping us to become more like Him. Some of us change faster than others. Some slower. The area God is working on may be different for different people. Each of our paths to sanctification is different from others, but God knows what He is doing.

As Christians and followers of Jesus, we should want to become more like Him. We should seek to know Him better, obey Him better, and have a heart and mind in alignment with His. Jesus said to His disciples (and also to us):

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. *Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide *in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also 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 so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. (John 15:1-11)

As Christians we should desire to become more like Jesus and to obey the Father’s commands, but we can also get distracted by the world. We get busy. We get scared. We get embarrassed. So many things in life can pull us away from Jesus if we are not intentional.

Jesus said, “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.” We have to focus on abiding in God and His word. If we don’t actively seek to follow Jesus, we will almost always drift off course. If we put our focus on Jesus and the Bible, we can bear much fruit. “He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” When we fail to focus on Jesus, we will fail in obeying and honoring Him.

What does abiding look like? “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” When we abide in Jesus, His words abide in us, and His word can only abide in us if we have read the Bible. We need to be studying the Bible daily if we wish to fully abide in Jesus. This passage also says, “ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” Does this mean that God acts like our genie in a bottle to grant our every desire, even if our desire is for a mansion, a Ferrari, power, and fame? Of course not! We have to look at the whole verse for the qualifiers. God will give us what we ask if we abide in Him and His words abide in us. Basically, he gives us what we ask when we ask in accordance with His will. We get our hearts desire when we desire what God desires.

Jesus commanded His followers to “abide in My love.” How do we abide in His love? He immediately answers this. “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love.” How do we keep His commandments? We keep them by knowing them (by knowing the Bible) and by having the heart and mind of God. We want to be so marinated in His word that it infuses everything we do, say, and think.

John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, also writes about abiding in Jesus in 1 John 2:

By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. (1 John 2:3-6) {emphasis mine}

The primary sign of abiding in Jesus is obedience and living life in a manner similar to that lived by Jesus. True, we will never walk it with the perfection that Jesus did, but we should imitate Him like the disciples, about whom it was said, “Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13) Ask yourself, “Do you live a life that causes others to “recognize [you] as having been with Jesus”?

The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. (1 John 2:9-10) {emphasis mine}

If we do not love those around us, then we are not abiding in the Light (Jesus Christ). We should have a strong love for fellow believers, as part of the body of Christ. We should also have a love for unbelievers, even if that love is tempered with pity that they are under judgment for rejecting Jesus.

When we abide in Jesus we should love what God loves and hate what God hates. If our desires are consistently the opposite of God’s, we need to consider whether we truly abide in Him.

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2:15-17) {emphasis mine}

As Christians, we should love the Word of God because it is “… inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16b) We need the word of God to help us obey God and know what He wants from us. Without His word, we can never know Him like we should.

Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. (1 John 2:22-24) {emphasis mine}

God’s word should abide in us and be part of us just as the Spirit is in us from the moment of Salvation.

Although Christians throughout history are called to abide in Jesus, obey Him, know His word, share it with others, and live a life like Jesus, this call has become even more critical as the day of His return approaches.

Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him. (1 John 2:28-29) {emphasis mine}

Most Christians who believe in the rapture have probably thought about what it would be like to be raptured in an instant and thought, “I hope I’m not raptured while … .” It might be “I hope I’m not raptured while I’m on the toilet” or “I hope I’m not raptured while naked in the shower.” More importantly, maybe we should be thinking, “I hope I’m not raptured while watching that movie” or “I hope I’m not raptured while saying mean things to someone online.” We don’t want to feel shame because we are spending our time on things that are useless or harmful and not spending time on things of eternal importance.

Are you abiding in Jesus? Are you primarily thinking about Godly, eternal things or about earthly things? Are you sharing the Gospel or blending in with the crowd?

Don’t go with the flow. Abide in our Lord and Savior. Actively seek to follow Him. Take all thoughts captive. Have the mind of Jesus. Share the love of God.

May you abide in God in every aspect of your life and not hold anything back from your Savior, Creator, and God. May He empower you to serve and honor Him with your thoughts, words, and actions. May your life so reflect the life and words of Jesus that everyone around you “recognizes that you have been with Jesus.”

Trust Jesus

All verses are NASB unless otherwise noted.