Through the Storm: Abiding Together 

Read John 15:1-17; 1 Peter 4:1-11.

Abiding or living together does not necessarily come easily. I know several people who have gone on a much-longed-for holiday with their best friends only to return home with the relationship in tatters. Perhaps you have had guests or relations come to stay who insist on you adapting to their ways in your house, rather than the other way around?

Living life together as Christians might sound more easily attainable – after all, you’d think we’d all be aiming to live or share life together in some level of community.

What Jesus describes in John 15:1-17 is about us learning to live and share the whole of life with our covenant partner God. In verses 4-7 and 9-10, the N.I.V. uses the word ‘remain’. But I prefer the N.K.J.V. use of the older English word ‘abide’.

One definition of ‘abide’ is to ‘live, settle down, inhabit or dwell together.’  Psalm 133:1 says, ‘How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.’ Each of these meanings implies some form of ease, peace or rest; something pleasant and mutually beneficial.

God uses the characters involved – like iron sharpens iron – to rub our edges off one another.

Interestingly, my English Thesaurus  defines abiding in more archaic terms: in the sense of to ‘bear with, stomach, tolerate and put up with’ (which might explain why I have a memory of my grandmother saying in her gentle West Country burr, “I can’t abide that woman!”).

Putting the two very different meanings together we can see that when we live together, we also have to learn to tolerate and put up with one another and our various foibles and habits. For some of us this can be a ‘storm’ in itself and involve us having to count to ten under our breath more than once in the day!

Having lived the reality of community for some years, I know it is nowhere near as idyllic as it sounds; in fact, much humility is needed as God uses the characters involved – like iron sharpens iron – to rub our edges off one another. It is in trying to learn to live together that we discover more about ourselves than we do about those we are living with.

It is only by learning to trust and grow together in the relatively good times that we can support one another through the storms that inevitably come. This statement is also true of our relationship with God: His love is already patient, long-suffering, faithful and unending towards us.

It is in trying to learn to live together that we discover more about ourselves than we do about those we are living with.

When we are seeking to ‘remain’ or ‘abide’ in Him then it behoves us to consider some of the adjustments we might need to make in order to learn to live in a way that honours and pleases Him and that does not offend the sensitive presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Over the next few instalments of Through the Storm, we are going to spend time in the lighthouse ‘accommodation’ level and see what aspects of ‘abiding’ we can build into our way of life; those things that will please God’s heart.

Additional reading: Psalm 55:8; Ecclesiastes 4:12; Amos 3:3.

PRAYER TIME:

Look back over today’s readings.

• Can you honestly say you feel accepted by God?
• What does having a covenant friend like God mean to you?
• What do you think ‘abiding’ in Him might mean for you?

Write down what you think might be required for you to be built stronger in your relationship with Him.

• Why have you singled out those things?

Talk to the Lord about all these matters. Thank Him for accepting you and for being your true friend.