ABIDING LOVE
STUDY SCRIPTURE: JOHN 15
KEY VERSE
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing”.
INTRODUCTION
In the distant past mothers would carry their babies on their shoulders or in a stroller. But nowadays many mothers carry them in a bag that they put with straps around their neck so that the babies feel very close to them.
Kangaroos, these are animals who live mostly in Australia and who like to hop around, go one step more for God has made the mother Kangaroos with a pouch and mothers put the baby kangaroos and everything it needs in that pouch which is part of their body. The baby Kangaroos don’t even have to leave the pouch to get milk from their mother and so they live in a very warm and great environment where they are always warm and secure and can feel their mother’s heart of love beating.
This is what it is like when we are in Jesus Christ. He tells us that when we believe in Him we are “abiding in Him”. That means that we are totally safe and He keeps us so close to him nobody can separate us from Him. He feeds us and looks after us and protects us. Jesus wants us to live that way. We must remain in Him and His love.
Once you are abiding in Jesus it does not matter whether you live in a big house, in a small house, an apartment, or even in a tent. Being in Jesus’ love is the important place to be.
When you abide in Jesus you are surrounded by God’s love. It is a warm, secure, safe, and cozy place to be for you have shelter and protection from everything else that might harm you. And on top of that surrounded by God’s love is the best place to be. We know that there we will get such delightful things while we are living on Earth and when we are living in the New Heaven and the New Earth with Him.
Jesus therefore encourages His disciples to Remain in His love.
This is very important for when you are abiding in Jesus’ love you are also abiding in the love of God the Heavenly Father. Jesus tells us that He is abiding or living in the Heavenly Father’s love so that when you are abiding in Jesus you’re also abiding in the Heavenly Father.
So you therefore are connected to the Heavenly Father when you are connected to Jesus. You’re like a light or lamp that is plugged into an electrical outlet and its power flows into the lamp and you get light. When you are connected to Jesus and the Heavenly Father you become light to the world. You therefore will work and bring a lot of light and help the people when you’re connected to Jesus.
To be connected to Him means that you should want to Study the words that Jesus spoke when He lived on earth. Before He came to be on Earth Jesus spoke to men through the prophets and so you should also study what they said Jesus told them to say to you. You want to stay close to Jesus and God the Father by studying His words which are found in the Bible. The Holy Spirit will live in you and also abide in you. He will help you to pray the right kind of prayers and He will help to keep you keep close to Jesus and God the Father. That is the job that God the Father gave Him to do and He is always doing it faithfully so you can never be feeling lonely or insecure because you know that the Holy Spirit is always there right in you and beside you when you are abiding in Jesus Christ and abiding in His love.
When you are abiding in the love of Jesus you will also be abiding in the love of the Heavenly Father for the Father loves Jesus His Son with the love that is so great we can hardly imagine all of it and He also loves you because you love His Son.
It is very important that when you are abiding in Jesus and in His love you remember that He has told us that we should also love each other and therefore we should be kind to other people and not make fun of them when they are at school or when they are in the neighbourhood. It will help you to show your love in little ways such as helping them pick up things that had fallen out of their backpack or from their pocket.
Loving them also means that you are not to push in front of them when you want to get into the line before them in the Cafeteria. They are all kind of practical things that you can think of to show that you care for others whether at school or at home.
So you’re to love one another for you know that Jesus loves you and will help you to love others. That is what makes Jesus and God the Heavenly Father happy.
So start by doing little things to show that you love others and as you keep on doing these little things you will feel better and better and it’ll be easier and easier to do more for others.
Jesus assures us that when you abide in Him and what He sees you do you will have joy. Joy is not just a nice feeling. It is something that is deep inside you and it will allow you to help others even when they are not behaving. You will feel happy all the time. So it is important for you to abide in the love of Jesus.
When you abide in the love of Jesus you will be making Jesus a part of your life. The picture that He gives of this is that you will be like a branch growing on a beautiful vine and bearing sweet grapes.
Everybody loves good and sweet fruit. When you accept the love of God, study your Bible to learn more about Jesus, and when you are praying for them to guide you, you will be learning to love. You will become gentle, cheerful, patient and ready to assist others.
These are what the Bible calls some of the fruit that the Holy Spirit will produce in you when you abide in the love of God. So remain in Jesus’ love and you will continue to grow and produce the fruit of kindness and love that will make you healthy and strong. You will develop friendships and it will benefit you.
So make a promise to yourself and to Jesus. Make a promise to think carefully about the way that you can show love for others, and how many times you can show that love. You can be certain that Jesus will help you to show love when you abide in His love.
Remember you must stay connected to Jesus for you cannot do anything really good without the power that comes from Him and that goes right through you.