Abide (verb): to bear patiently; to endure without yielding; to wait for; to accept without objection
When is the last time you used the word “Abide” in an everyday conversation not involving a bible discussion? My guess is you can’t remember. Abide has a sense of an “old-fashioned” word, and indeed has been around since before the 12th century. Most of us are more likely to use synonyms like rest, dwell, remain, endure, or wait, rather than the word abide, in both our written and verbal communication.
Although “Abide” is not commonly used in every day language, it is used EIGHT times in the four sentences of the Gospel of John, chapter 15, verses 4 through 7. It’s almost too much!
Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. John 15:4-7
Since the only context I have for the use of the word “Abide” is from scripture, I consider the word holy.
Perhaps that also has to do with HOW this word is used in scripture. The word goes hand-in-hand with the intimacy we experience with Jesus. And since Jesus is Holy, so must be the verb that describes how I connect with Him. When I look at the definitions of Abide, and then how it is used in John 15, I still struggle to understand the depth of it’s meaning. And so, I keep digging.
Another synonym for abide is the word “tarry”, which is also a rarely used word in the common English language today. The definition of tarry: to linger in expectation; to stay in or at a place. Hearing the word “tarry”, I am immediately reminded of the old Christian Hymn, In The Garden (words and music by C. Austin Miles, 1912). When I listen to this song ~ the melody, the lyrics, the imagery it creates ~ I start to grasp what it means to Abide in Christ.
As I daydream about tarrying in the Garden with Jesus, a though occurs to me: perhaps abiding in Christ is like the scientific condition of symbiosis – which is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different organisms. Bees and flowering plants. Oxpeckers and Impalas. Clownfish and Sea Anemones. Sharks and Remora Fish. Me and Christ.
Specifically, abiding in Christ would be like “Obligate Symbiosis” – which means one or both organisms entirely depends on the other for survival. That’s me! Entirely dependent on Christ! As the words from John state: “apart from Christ I can do nothing.”
My new understanding of Abide:
- Abide is “handholding” my heart with Christ’s.
- Abide is making a home in Christ and allowing Him to make a home in me.
- Abide is soul symbiosis with Christ.
May it be so.