Where Do You Abide?

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32

I had a conversation recently with Ryan Conlon where we talked about what it means to "abide" in the word of Christ. It caused me to think of other things in my life that I would claim to abide in. The most common example I thought of is where I live. My home. And I realized that this is a very important aspect of life today. When we meet someone for the first time one of the first questions we ask is usually about where they live. It is something that we use to define a person. Were do they live? Where is it that they call home? Where do they remain or dwell? Where do they continue to return to? Where do they "abide." And ideally, this place that we abide in is a place of comfort, a place of safety, a place where we start almost every single single day. It is no wonder that having someone break into your home is such a traumatizing experience for some. Their source of comfort and security was broken in to. The place they abide in was compromised.

But Jesus tells us to abide in his word. His word should be the place of comfort, the place of peace, the place where the rest of our life is based out of. It should be the foundation of our lives, the place we can rest from the outside world and the place where we can gain strength and courage to take on the challenges of each day. I often wonder how often I abide somewhere other then the word of Christ. How often do I base my life on something else and only look to the word of Christ when I absolutely need to or when it is convenient to do so? Jesus wants us to completely base our life on his word. He wants i to be the source of our lives. The question we have to ask is what stands in the way of this happening and how do we deal with it?

But one thing is certain, if we abide in the word of Christ it will change our lives and give us a foundation on life that will never be broken. How do we know this? Because Jesus says so.

"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock." Matthew 7:24-25