Abiding in Christ - What’s in it for me?

 

Is it worth it to abide in Christ? When things are going well, we take that as a given. But when tests and hardships come, we might waver about it.

Maybe we should stop to seriously consider exactly how we benefit from abiding in Christ.

Here are 7 things every believer gets out of staying in a right relationship with Jesus Christ. 

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Bring forth much fruit

John 15:1-5

It’s quite logical - a branch cannot bear fruit on its own. Once broken off, a branch eventually succumbs to the elements.

The fruits and leaves start withering, and ultimately dry and fall off. Or else, the whole branch simply rots.

Let’s face it - this series of events is inevitable.

But how often do we as believers try to be Christlike without Christ? Makes no sense, right?

We have to adopt an attitude of utter dependence on Christ and His word, so we can not just survive, but thrive - thrive by bearing a whole lot of fruit.

There’s no other way to do it!

Escape being cast away, withered and burned in fire

John 15:6

Call me a softie if you want, but I can’t deal with the burn from a match.

Whenever I happen to be slightly burnt, I often wonder how tormenting it would be to feel flames forever.

Well, I want that to stay as a wonder, and never become my experience!

Fortunately, Jesus offers escaping eternal fire as one reason to stay in Him.

This is a sobering thought.

It makes me realise that I can’t take my current relationship with Him for granted.

I can’t get careless.

I’m never home-free.

So despite how securely attached I am at any point in time, something could still happen to make me a castaway.

Let’s all take another grip of Jesus!

Ask what you will, and it will be done

John 15:7

Wow!

There’s no other way to respond to this one.

But it’s a “wow” to most of us as believers because we regard answered prayers as unusual phenomena!

That’s not God’s intent for His children.

He wants us to have such a rich, ongoing relationship with Him that when we call, He hears and answers!

And He wants us to be so in tune with Him that we know His will and pray it!

If we’re not at that place yet, it’s a destination we should all strive to arrive at. 

Have both the Father and the Son

2 John 1:9

God offers us a complete salvation.

(He’s a beautiful God!)

Abiding in Christ not only gives us Jesus, but gives us the Father as well.

That’s because Jesus has not separated Himself from the Father.

When we abide in Christ, we’ll never need to pursue the Father independently.

It’s all in the same package.

So when we abide in Jesus, we do not miss out on intimacy with, or knowledge of the Father.

If we’ve seen Jesus, we have seen the Father also. (John 14:9)

No occasion of stumbling

1 John 2:10

Jesus called Himself the Light of the world.

And, according to 1 John 2:10, loving our brethren is one way of abiding in that light.

To keep benefiting from the Light, we must walk in the light.

Therefore, we must walk in brotherly love.

It’s only then we will see clearly and avoid stumbling.

As we abide in Christ, our way forward becomes safer, even easier!

That’s because we will be walking on a lit path - one that is lit with love.

Sinneth not

1 John 3:6

“Hand in hand we walk each day. Hand in hand along life’s way. Walking thus I cannot stray. Hand in hand with Jesus”.

It just makes sense.

If we’ll all be honest, the times when we have sinned against God as believers is when we shifted from His presence.

Some of us shifted a little...

...For some of us, the shift was a big one.

But the end result was always the same: we opened the door to sin.

Fellowship breeds holiness.

In the same breath, holiness deepens fellowship.

So we do ourselves a big favour to abide in intimacy with Jesus. That’s the only sure way to keep partaking of His holiness. (Hebrews 12:10)

Confident and not ashamed at His return

1 John 2:28

I love this one!

Too often (well, at least for me), we associate the return of Jesus with fear, anxiety and dread.

While that’s understandable for an unbeliever, it couldn’t be further from the truth for the saints.

The brethren in Thessalonica were told to comfort one another with words reminding them of Jesus’ return (1 Thessalonians 4:17-18)...comfort, not terrorize!

As saints, we have a reason to rejoice and even be confident at the prospect of the end of the age.

So no more fear people! No more thoughts of being shamefully caught off guard.

Instead, we seek confidence.

Abiding in Jesus will allow us to look forward with delightful readiness for His return.

“Oh, I want to see Him...”!

Conclusion

Here’s hoping we take all these benefits into consideration the next time we feel tempted to depart from the Lord!

How are you abiding in Christ? Let me know in the comments!

Related article:

Divine Connection: Connecting to the God of Possibilities

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