[remain in my love]

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now REMAIN in my love.” [jn 15:9]

This verse has been running over and over again in my head the past few days. So I decided to study it a bit further. I wanted to know what those words really mean. What is He telling us here?

Some translations use the word “abide” rather than “remain.” So what does it even mean to abide? What does it mean to remain? I have a Vine’s dictionary at home that I just love. It tells the meaning of words in both the old testament (Hebrew) and the new testament (Greek).

When I looked up the word “abide ” in Greek, it said some of the following things:
-continue, dwell, endure, remain, stand, tarry.
-to stay in a place instead of leaving it…unto the end; to endure bravely and trustfully.
-to lodge in a house.
-of cleaving unto a person, indicating persistent loyalty.

…I just LOVED that last one. To “cleave.” So of course I looked that one up too…

Cleave: to join FAST together, to glue, cement; joined.

One of the things that really strikes me about this, is how God knew we need to be told, to not only know his love once or know it from a distance, but to REMAIN in it. He knows us and He knows how prone we are in our flesh to move from Him. If we are not functioning out of His love for us and truly knowing that to our core, then we are functioning out of fear.

Over the last several months, in the sanctification process, the Lord has been revealing to me specifically some of the core lies that I believe and struggle with. It manifests itself in many ways, but essentially the core lie that I struggle with is that I am not loved or lovable. I don’t share this with you for condolences at all, but just to share what I am learning and what the Lord is working out in me. God so eagerly wants me to know in those moments where that lie comes above the surface and He wants me to know to my core that He loves me with an unconditional love. Nothing that I do or don’t do has changed or will ever change that. When I don’t live out of the truth of His love, I turn to functioning essentially out of fear. But His perfect love drives out all fear.

I need to remain in His love. Stand firm in His love. Abide. Dwell (love that one). Endure in trust. Join fast to Him and His love. That is where life and truth are found.