Remaining in Jesus

“As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.”

John 15:9 (NIV)

These are such simple words, spoken by Jesus. He tells us to remain in His love, as if we have the option to remain in it or to depart from it. We always have the option to walk away from God, since He gave us free will, but it won’t change the fact that God’s love is unconditional, and He never changes. In this verse, Jesus tells us to remain in His love, which puts the burden of action on our part.

In first reading this scripture, it seemed too simple to develop into a meditation. As happens with all scripture, if we read and then pause to pray and listen, the Spirit brings a new insight that we didn’t realize before. 

The Lord said through Jeremiah, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” 

(Jeremiah 33:3)

Maybe the Lord has more to tell us through simple words of scripture, if we call and ask Him to tell us something new. 

The word “remaining” in His love is what stood out to me. God’s word is living and active, so when we ask Him to teach us something new, the Holy Spirit will bring new life to His words as Jeremiah said, by revealing the unsearchable things we didn’t know. Someone once said that God’s phone number is Jeremiah 33:3. 

So, while reading scripture, let’s give Him a call and ask Him to show us things we didn’t know before. 

Monks in monasteries developed a technique, long ago, in reading scripture. When they read, it isn’t treated as texts to be studied, but as the living and active word of God. 

“Lectio Divina” is a method of treating scripture as if it’s alive, pausing to meditate on it, and praying for insight, as the Holy Spirit brings words to life in a new way. It’s really just doing what Jeremiah 33:3 said to do. 

I’ve started practicing this method and some verses took on new meaning to me, since Lectio Divina simply helps us pause and listen to the Holy Spirit.

I wondered what Jesus intended by telling us to remain in His love. A little Greek lesson can also help give new life to a scripture. The Greek word for “remain” is “menos” which means to abide or dwell-as a home base. In other words, remaining in His love, is not a visit, it’s our home base with Jesus. We cannot be at home with Him if we keep thinking He’s some place far away from us. 

Although God never changes, we do, which is why Jesus asks us to remain in Him. Anytime we get caught up in worries and uncertainty, due to some hardship, we tend to live like Jesus is far away, and we momentarily depart from being at home in His love. Remaining in Him is not something we do passively, it’s an action of constantly bringing ourselves back home, to the place of knowing He loves us and is with us. 

I got carried away worrying about something one day, and the Spirit reminded me of the meaning of “remaining” in His love. I realized that worry and uncertainty can cause us to depart from that home base, until we pause and listen to Him. So, I took the action of bringing myself back home, saying, I’m going to trust Jesus in this matter, then once again, I remained in His love. 

Jesus stands before us every day, calling out to us, with outstretched arms, asking, “Will you remain in My love?”

Lord, thank you for your unchanging love for us. Help us to pause and listen to your Spirit, who is always showing us new things, so that we keep taking action to faithfully remain in your love. Amen

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