Abiding.

The word "abide" or "abides" is an extremely important New Testament word.  It is the Greek word "meno" and it is used 118 times in the New Testament.  It is generally translated as "abide, continue, endure, remain, stand firm", or dwells".  Strong's says that "meno" means to stay in a given place, state, relation, or expectancy.  Very often it refers to staying in a house as a guest or staying in a particular place.  Normally, the word "abides" is concerned with the primary aspect of continuing in a personal bond with someone.  We all know that it is one thing to start a relationship, but quite another to remain in that relationship.  We would think of this in relation to a marriage and how the partners are to continue in a personal bond with one another.  So, this "abiding" is at the very core of what it means to even be a Christian.  We would consider it as the element of loyalty that is utterly critical in any meaningful relationship.  Relationships are quickly dissolved when there is no loyalty between the parties concerned, and unfortunately one of the greatest places where disloyalty is often expressed is in the local church.  People come and go.  They become dissatisfied over various issues and off they go.  However, it is the willingness, patience, and the spiritual stamina to work through something that gives substance to the relationship.  You can never have a good marriage if every time that you have a disagreement with your partner you start thinking about divorce or separation.  What makes any relationship meaningful is the willingness to work through the difficult moments.  That is what ultimately gives meaning and purpose to the relationship - working through things that are difficult.  From God's perspective, we can quickly measure this by looking at God's unswerving loyalty and faithfulness to us as believers in spite of the personal indifference and spiritual laziness that we so often exhibit.

The biblical evidence of "abiding" is that a believer is continually developing spiritually - growing, learning, and being steadfast.  The question, however, is how does all of this happen in a practical way?  Well, it really is very simple - by simple faith we constantly surrender and yield our life to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit within us.  We "abide" in His work in us.  We allow His sanctifying presence, influence, and power to control our lives.  The biblical word that the New Testament consistently uses is the word "present" or "yield".  We "present" ourselves to the Holy Spirit for His sanctifying work within us.  For instance, Romans 6:13 states it this way,

Ro 6:13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

Here is the operative question in all of this - "Would I be willing to take this area of my life and place it near Jesus Christ?"  Would He accept it?  Would He be satisfied with this area of my life or with how I responded to something difficult?  Would He be satisfied with what I said to someone and how I handled a particular situation?  Would He be satisfied with my attitude?  That is the picture here of being surrendered, of yielding ourselves to Christ, and of presenting ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit.  Too often we stifle and hinder the Holy Spirit's work in our lives and in the process He is quenched simply because we refuse to yield ourselves to His sanctifying work within us.  We are doing those things in our life that do not allow the Holy Spirit to exert His full influence over our life.  We become stubborn, self-willed, and often unpleasant.  We grumble and complain.  It is all a part of not yielding ourselves to the Holy Spirit, and it is a conscious choice that we make every day in all of the various areas of our life.  As committed Christians, we must stand in awe that the Holy Spirit indwells us and we must cherish the fact that He wants to work deeply in our life.  The principle is very simple - by faith we surrender, we yield, and we present our life to the work of the Holy Spirit within us.  God must first work in us before He can work through us.  He will not use us if we do not allow Him to change us, so everyone who wants to be used by God must allow this to happen in their life.  The worst thing that we can do is to become satisfied with a very minimal work of the Holy Spirit within us and to go on living our life any way that we want to live.

So, how does all of this happen in our lives in a practical sense?  Well, it happens through "abiding" - through remaining, staying, standing fast, dwelling, continuing, and enduring in the things of God and in the Word of God.  "Abiding" is remaining steadfast and persevering in something, and it implies a very conscious exercise of the will to persevere.  I.e., we choose to endure, we choose to persevere, and we choose to continue in the things of God.  The inevitable spiritual result is that when we do "abide" in Christ and we allow the word of God to "abide" in us, that abiding process creates a very significant sanctifying effect on our personal lives - and that is the goal.