This week we are going to be looking at 1 John 3: 1-10.  This passage has some really powerful and important words for us to hear.  I want to talk about something that has come up several times throughout these weeks of reading.

What does it mean to abide in Jesus? We are told many times to do that. What does that mean?  I’m just going to tell you what this means to me.  To abide in Jesus is to do two primary things

1. Spend time with Jesus
2. Allow Jesus (through the Holy Spirit) to search your life and heart

Ok, but those are still kind of Church words. What does that mean in practical everyday life?

To mean, to spend time with Jesus is to spend time in relationship with Him through the ways that we have long understood that Jesus speaks through us – through reading scripture.  Through prayer. Through worship.  Through the sacraments. Through service. There are avenues before that through which Jesus will be in a relationship with us.  We have to listen, to search, to do that hard work we talked about yesterday of putting ourselves in a position to hear.  This is about positioning.

The second thing is allowing Jesus to seach us.  If spending time is about putting ourselves in a position to hear Jesus, this is about giving ourselves room to listen.  To quiet ourselves to hear His voice. And to allow ourselves the room for correction. For Jesus to point out the places where we need to grow and allow the Spirit to give to us the grace to grow, the grace to encourage in our weakness, and the grace to walk faithfully. This is about listening.

I find this space in my morning walks. When driving to church. When I take moments throughout the day to listen for God’s voice.  I am a talker. This is hard for me. But it is essential. If I don’t give Jesus the space to speak to me and grow me, my faith will never grow.

Putting yourself in a position to encourager God and then giving Him the space to speak to you. To me, this is out how I try to abide in Christ.

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