HOW ELLIE LEARNED “TO REMAIN”

She remembers the intersection, but her mind totally blocked out the collision. Her next memory is waking up in the ambulance.

In John 15:1-8, Whenever Jesus repeats a word, it isn’t because He likes how it rolls around on His tongue; it’s because the word is vital. In the Amplified Version, the word “remain” is repeated eight times. Remain means “to dwell”; to consistently live in the same place. To remain in the Vine of Jesus Christ means that we live and breathe daily in Him. We don’t wander off on our own, occupied with our personal plans, worries, and thoughts. God doesn’t plan for us to be the broken branches withering on the ground because we have lost our roots in Him.

THE BREATHING ROOM SHE DESPERATELY DESIRED

Let me tell you about Ellie (name changed for privacy). She was so excited. After months of pulling mandatory 70-hour work weeks, she finally had a week off. This first day was the breathing room she desperately desired. A break to regroup, contemplate and catch up on her first loves of reading and creative writing. Her early morning trip to fulfil multiple errands on that fateful day was short-lived.

GOD EXTENED HER BREATHING ROOM WITH A TRUCK

God thought Ellie needed extended breathing room. While at an intersection, a work truck pulling a full trailer of hay t-boned Ellie on the driver’s side. He had blown through the red light. Ellie remembers the intersection, but her mind totally blocked out the collision. Her next memory is waking up in the ambulance.

LIVING IN SURVIVAL MODE

In previous conversations with Ellie, we discussed her work schedule, her feelings of isolation, and the amount of time she spent worrying about God’s provision. Unknowingly, she drifted further and further from being rooted in “The Vine” as repeatedly mentioned in this passage. Her schedule was in survival mode: going to work, returning home to greet her cats, a brief meal, then crashing from exhaustion. The next morning, she would repeat the same cycle. This is how she remained before the accident.

LIVING ON “THE SHELF”

What currently bothers Ellie the most is she has lost her “mojo,” her constant busyness. For all her adult life, she has worked, worked and then worked some more. She came from poverty and dysfunction. Her heart extends as far as the ocean as she cares for her clients with disabilities. Doesn’t God understand her clients need her? Why has He placed her on the shelf?

RELEARNING “TO ABIDE”

On God’s chosen shelf, she is relearning what it means to simply abide in Christ. Work is set aside, plans are put away, and Christ sits next to her in her living room. If you remain in Me and My words remain in you [that is, if we are vitally united and My message lives in your heart] … My Father is glorified and honored by this, when you bear much fruit, and prove yourselves to be My [true] disciples.

SHE WAITS AT THE STOP SIGN

I thank God every day that He spared Ellie’s life. In my eyes, she is a star that lights up a room, displaying God’s redemption in all its glory. Right now, Ellie waits at the stop sign God has placed in her path. Her heart hates waiting as she waits and waits some more. There are so many questions, but God repeats, “For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,” says the Lord, “plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11) The crash is just a blip in God’s good plans for Ellie’s eternity as Ellie relearns what it means “to remain”.

RELEARN WHAT IT MEANS “TO REMAIN”

Have you wandered away from The Vine with your roots in Him becoming weaker and weaker? Maybe you have crashed to the ground; no fruit to be seen. I urge you to stop, evaluate, and put on pause your busyness of life. Relearn what it means “to remain.”

Click to hear about waiting from Ruth Chou-Simons

LET HIM SETTLE IN

Lord, you have been a guest, and I have been the host. From now on I am going to be the servant.

I didn’t know my grandmother very well. During my childhood, we visited her Sunday afternoon. She was a rather stern woman who enjoyed boxing matches on TV and ruled her household with an iron fist. My relationship with Grandma was superficial. When she died there was not a great hole in my life because the relationship never existed. I did not have an abiding relationship with Grandma. It contrasts with the “remain in Him” phrase in this passage because it means “abide in Him”. I did not abide with Grandma.

MAKING A PERMANENT HOME

“Abiding” in I John 2:28-3:3 is the idea of settling in; making a permanent home. To dwell with Jesus does not mean occasionally stopping by for coffee. It is not superficial, but a constantly deepening and vital relationship with Jesus Christ. Read what Jesus said about “abiding”: If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” (John 14:23) David Guzik writes: “There are two Greek words to convey the idea of “to live in”; one has the idea of living in a place as a stranger, and the other has the idea of settling down in a place to make it one’s permanent home. The beautiful doxology in Ephesians 3:14-19 uses the word “dwell”, the ancient Greek word for a permanent home. This indicates Jesus wants to settle down in our hearts, not just make a brief Sunday visit. Jesus is ready to park the U-Haul truck and unload his complete household into our hearts.

TRUE COMMITMENT MEANS ABIDING

Allowing Christ to abide is the only way to discover His power to love people through us. In this broken world, Christ’s love is what people long to see. “Many people say they will have nothing to do with Christianity because of all the hypocrites. You see, if there were not some expectation Christians should be different, you couldn’t charge them with being hypocritical. You really wouldn’t go to a nightclub and discover the people at the next table weren’t overtly friendly, didn’t invite you to their home… If you discover one of them was sleeping with a prostitute, would you start talking about hypocrisy? No, no, no, no. In fact, in most of the religions of the world, there is no tie between morals and ethics on the one hand and religious commitment on the other.” (written by Don Carson) True commitment means abiding.

THIS IS A STRANGE LOVE

We aren’t talking about the type of love in Hallmark cards, little emojis, or “likes” on Facebook.  This quality of love goes into the trenches, pursues the unlovable, and spends a great deal of time on its knees. It doesn’t sacrifice so that it will look good or concern itself with “what will people think”. This is a strange love; the same sacrificial love by which Jesus gave His life for us. See how great a love the Father has given us, that we would be called children of God; and in fact we are. For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know Him.” The world didn’t know what to make of Jesus. It certainly doesn’t know what to make of us when we begin abiding in Him and loving others to the point of being willing to give our lives for them. 

GIVE HIM THE KEYS

What is your relationship with Christ? In “My Heart-Christ’s Home”, Robert Boyd Munger writes: “I saw it in a minute and dropping to my knees, I said, “Lord, you have been a guest, and I have been the host. From now on I am going to be the servant. You are going to be the Lord.” Give Him the keys. Let Him abide. Permit Him to move in, rearrange, and makeover your entire inner life. Say, “Go at it Jesus. I can’t live the Christian life without You!” 

Click link to read “My Heart – Christ’s Home” – you won’t regret it.