Abiding in Love

John's Gospel in the 15th chapter talks about our "abiding" in Christ. He is the vine and we are the branches, and we are to "abide" in that relationship. Strikes me that we do not often hear the word "abide" used very much, but we have a lot of situations where the concept is promoted. There are a host of people who have abides as N.C. State fans through thick and thin. There are people who have abided, stayed faithful, to the State Basketball program from Norman Sloan, Les Robinson, Herb Sendek, and now Sidney Lowe. They have stayed strong supporters in good times and bad. They have abided in their loyalty. We have Financial Planners who are urging us to "abide" in our financial plans. Do not panic. Do not do anything rash. Simple abide in the plan you made in previous times. John says that Jesus told his disciples to abide in him. To continue to follow him. As we abide in Christ, the love of God will abide in us through Christ and it will manifest itself in our sharing God's love for all creation. As we abide in Christ, the love of God flows through us and we engage in works of compassion and justice on behalf of others.

So what good is that to me? What is in it for me? Why should I care about doing works of compassion and justice for others? Well, apart from the fact that when compassion and justice are done for others it means there is more compassion and justice in the world and you benefit from that, but that is not the reason given by John. In his first letter he says that that love flowing through us casts out fear. As we dwell in Christ and the love of God flows through us into those deeds we lose our fears.

I think we lose three great fears. The fear of insignificance. It seems to me that one of our culture's greatest fear is that we do not matter. Isn't that what MySpace,Facebook, and Twitter are all about. That somebody out there knows and cares that I am going to lunch. There are billions of people in a world with millions of stars. All we are is "dust in the wind." As the love of God flows through us and we care for others, we live in the contentment that God loves us and we are making a difference in the lives of others.

The fear of not being good enough. If we matter and what we do matters, then there is the fear that we may not measure up. The fear of failure. That we will be put in the goat section. But if we abide in the love of God in Jesus and that gift of forgiveness and salvation is ours then we don't have to worry about being good enough. We are not saved by our works. God's love is an act in Jesus to be a remedy for our sin, so we lose that fear.

The fear of the stranger, the foreigner, the unknown. As we abide in God's love and let the love flow through us in our works of compassion for others, we share in the love of God for all His creation, and we no longer immediately believe everything different is evil.

So while we are "abiding" in the love of God in Jesus, that love dwells in us and flows through us into our loving others and that perfect love casts out all fears. It is one of the most common greetings in the New Testament, "Fear not."