“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit from itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.”
John 15:4, LSB
Abiding is a difficult word for many of us. I know I have struggled with it. How do I abide in Jesus? Jesus was teaching His disciples to drink from His cup continually and not to try and establish roots in their own soil but to rely upon Him and His roots for all that they need. As we look through Scripture, we see the chosen people of God being called to faithfulness to God but continually seeking sustenance from other places than what He has to offer. For them, it was the other religious practices that surrounded them. For us, it is similar, though it may not look the same. How many self-help books are there in the world today? Many of them are stamped with Jesus, but their efforts are based not on Scripture or on our dependence on Christ. Moralistic lessons appear helpful on the surface, but if Christ isn’t needed to fulfill the lesson, is it of our Lord? I like the acronym F.R.O.G. It is a simple tool that helps remind us of our Lord’s call to us all to be Fully Reliant On God. In this, our Lord calls us to be in prayer and in the Word. In doing this, we remain connected to the vine, are rooted in Him, and are able to then abide through all things with Him.
Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.