Abiding in His Presence

John 15:1-4  I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

How many times did you use the word abide this week? probably not once. We have said "Lets go' or "hurry up.." We tend to use lingo that keeps us going but words like abide usually come rarely..

Webster defines the word abide this way "to remain or settle down" Our world today places such emphasis on being upwardly mobile , that the very thought of remaining with something or someone has negative connotations. Americans are on the move from relationship to relationship , state to state, company to company spouse to spouse and church to church.. The tragedy is that fewer people are finding God and abiding in a close-knit relationship with Him. Even television has trained us to point that about six minutes from now your are going to need a commercial break from this blog... You will want to set down your tablet and go to the fridge and get some water or a coke . Culture conditions us to be in motion- constantly on the go. 

The Lord Jesus Christ spoke the words in our text .. NO fewer then eight times in this passage He tells His disciples "Abide in me. Remain with me" Settle down into a relationship with me" Let it be normal and natural that we would commune together day by day and moment by moment" 

In this passage, Jesus was somewhere between the upper room and the Garden of Gethsemane, quite possibly surrounded by vineyards. In John 15 , Jesus was not inviting His disciples to "try Him out" or "see what it might be like" He was inviting them to remain with Him. What does it mean to abide , personally, with Jesus Christ? It is just some figurative concept or is it something we can really enjoy? What does it mean to abide in the presence of Christ?