Charge!
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in
Me John 15:4
I had a little enforced quiet time this weekend. I left the
inside light on in my car. When I got out to go to church, the car was dead as
it could be. That was no problem, I thought.
After all, I had jumper cables. Unfortunately the last time my husband let
someone use the car, the kept both the jumper cables and the gas can when they
brought it back. I looked around for someone to help me but couldn’t find
anyone that was awake. When I did find people awake, they did not speak
English. I went back in for a while, and my husband helpfully pointed out that
I should always check to make sure all the lights were out. When I came back outside, there were lots of people
in the parking lot. Not one of them had jumper cables. I had the same result at
the next two parking lots in the complex. Finally someone said, he had jumper
cables but not a car. I followed him to his apartment, where he realized that
what he had were tow cables. The neighbors upstairs said that if I could find a
set they would help me. After a great deal of time looking and asking I found
both cables and a car at the same time. The jumped the car and I was so excited
I drove directly to the gas station where guess what I did? Yep, I turned the car
off to go in and pay for gas. I happily fed the car and got in to start it.
Would you like to guess whether anyone at the gas station had cables? I met
another neighbor who helped me and told me to leave the thing running for a
while. Oh good 25 -30 more minutes of quiet time. I had left me book inside and my smart phone
is currently functioning as a paperweight.
I sat still and guess what? God had something to tell me.
My car is not the only thing that I try to recharge without
taking enough time and effort.. In Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, hands down the hardest
habit for me is the last one which says ‘sharpen
the saw.’ A man is cutting wood and his saw is dull. He is working extra hard
because of the dull saw, and another man suggests that he stop and sharpen the
saw so his work will be more efficient. He replies that he can’t stop to
sharpen his saw because he is too busy working.” We easily recognize the flaw
in his logic, but do the same thing in our lives, both in our physical and our
spiritual lives. I neglect things that
are going to make me better and stronger, because I don’t have time to do them.
More damaging is the way I do this in my spiritual life. When I am busy, even
busy doing God’s work, It is easy to rush through our Bible studies and prayer
times. Then we wonder why we don’t have the passion we need for the lost or
people in need. We try to go from spiritual experience to spiritual experience
and keep the encouragement and lessons we learned without maintaining our
connection with God. That would be like going from Thanksgiving dinner which is
great Christmas dinner which is great without eating in between. There is
nothing wrong with retreats or great sermons or youth rallies, but they are only
a part of the equation.
Jesus used the example of plant life. Through much of John
15 he talked about the vine and the branches. In Verse 4 he said Abide in Me,
and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in
the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. When I looked up the word
abide it means to remain or to stay or to make your home. How do we know if we
are doing that. 1 john has a lot to say about this. We read Now he who keeps His
commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides
in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.(3:24) and No one has seen God at any time. If we love
one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us (4:12).
Let us check the evidence of abiding in Him to keep our lives charged.
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