1 John 2:24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.
Abide, live, dwell, inhabit. Deeper, this idea involves intimacy, communion, knowledge that is personal. This comes only through relationship that is developed over time. What John’s readers had heard from the beginning was the confession of Jesus as the divine Son of God and Lord over creation. Jesus is the Incarnate Word that became flesh (John 1:1-14; 1 John 1:1-4). This is more than a statement one can make with one’s mouth. It is something that must be experienced deep within as a direction of life and purpose for living. This awareness, mindset, and decision for the direction of one’s life brings one into relationship with the Son and Father. God clearly leaves the choice to use. Will we accept this message and experience it in our lives?
Abiding in the Son and Father expresses one of the most profound ideas in the Christian faith. It is a type of mysticism, but not like any other mysticism of the world’s religions. It is not a matter of passively emptying our minds so that nothing remains. It does involve changing our will and removing the control of the world. But this is an active mysticism that engages the mind in obedience to Jesus’ commands and engages the body in acts of compassion. Abiding in the Triune God should compel us to service in the world and not retreat from it. It is a rejection of the world’s control and influence but an embracing of the world’s needs. We are “in the world but not of the world” (John 17:16). We are out in the world making a difference but not influenced by its views and values. The reason is that we are connected to a difference power source. We have found a new identity. Our value system is determined by a new relationship.
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