Week 50 John
John uses the word abide (or abides & abiding) quite a few times. Today I took five minutes to page back and scan the text. I easily found a dozen references to abide. I checked a word book. In the whole bible abide abides & abiding are used 67 times. In his gospel and letters John accounts for 43 of the 67 – about 64.18%.
I wonder about the word abide. It’s a kind of old-fashioned word but not so dated that it’s indecipherable. It basically means lasting for a long time. Not changing over time.
John uses abide in a couple of different ways but the usage I’m interested in is the one about me-abiding-in-God. John uses it that way several times. For example:
you will abide in the Son and the Father
you abide in Him
we abide in Him
The idea is that when I come into belief in the Lord then from now on I stick with him. I abide. I settle in for the long haul. Undeviating persistence. Come-what-may endurance. I last.
I checked a different version of the bible and it said living-in-God instead of abiding-in-God. I can’t argue with that. But I prefer abide. Living-in-God seems passive…kind of inertial…relaxed. But abiding feels active. Like it’s mine to do. To stick-with or quit.
Reading John’s letters the last couple of days haven’t given me the sense John was a low-demand guy. And I don’t get the sense abiding is a low-demand task.
Note: quotes from 1 John 2:24 2:28, 3:24, 4:13 (NASB)