Soaking In His Presence!

1 John 2:24-25 
24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.
 
In our home we give our kids chores to do each week. There least favorite week seems to be dish duty. They will wait until the last minute to clean the dishes – and then there is the argument of whether a dish was left from the previous week, because apparently if one plate is still in the sink on Monday then all obligations to do dishes are null and void until that dish is clean by the one who forgot to wash it. I know this does not happen in your house, right? There have been times when a dish was left in the sink with food on it that dried so hard you needed a hammer and chisel to remove it! You can scrub and scrape and eventually clean it all off, but it is much easier just to let it soak in the dishwater and allow the soap and water to loosen and soften the food making it much easier to remove. Letting the dish “abide” in the water makes it easier to clean!
 
The Abiding Christian is a lot like that dirty dish. The more time we spend submersed in the presence of Christ the easier we clean up! As we spend time in His word we learn what it means to walk with Him. As we spend time in prayer we learn  what it means to depend on Him. As we spend time in worship we learn what it means to love Him! Then we will find that the dirt and the grime of this world doesn’t stick to us so easily! Does this mean we become perfect and sinless? No. Its more like the bumper sticker I saw one day, “Christians aren’t sinless, but they should sin less!” 
 
Here in our passage John tells us to abide in the truths of God’s word. It is a familiar topic for him. This same message was given to the disciples in John 15 as Jesus taught His followers what it means to abide in Him . To abide in Christ means to find your life, your purpose, your fulfillment in Him and Him alone! I believe what stops most of us from living this type of life is the distraction of all this world has to offer, however the trinkets of this world pales in comparison to what is promised to those who follow Jesus – eternal life! We get this idea that the life that Christ gives us is waiting for us in heaven, but that isn’t the case! Once we except Christ as our Savior we have entered into Life and the source of that life is Jesus! 1 John 3:14 says we know that we have passed from death unto life – not that we will pass into life but that we have already done itl! Your life in Christ begins at salvation! So since the source of our life is Christ we must learn to abide in Him! As we do this and we soak in His presence we find that the attraction of this world doesn’t stick to us so easily!
 
Today as we ReFocus our hearts and minds on Christ let us learn to Abide in Him; Living the life that He has given us through the Cross and soaking in His presence as we give Him our hearts to mold and to make into His Likeness!