In John 15:4 Jesus says something that is easy to skip over, even though it takes a lifetime to digest: “Abide in me, and I in you.”
Various translation teams have tried to capture this enigmatic phrase. The NET Bible says: “Remain in me, and I will remain in you.” In the footnotes they also use the word “Reside.”
It’s one of those statements that you need to ponder, and often slowly. When you do, certain implications come to mind.
One of them has to do with Jesus’ words. In order to abide-remain-reside in Christ, we need to spend time with his words. We can’t rush past what he says in the Gospels, as if his words are ideas to quickly skip over while we get to the more important things on our daily to-do lists.
One idea is to not rush your Bible-reading. How many of us have goals to read the Bible in a year, or even two years? If you’re on track, and if you’re able to stay focused, that’s great. But for many people, it’s simply too much information. As a result, we might reach our goal, but we haven’t digested 90% of what we’ve read.
Why not slow down a bit? Read less, but in a way that is more fruitful.
Recently, I was reading a passage in John’s Gospel. It was wise and rich. Instead of skipping to my next chapter further on in the New Testament, I simply re-read that same text in John. And the next day, I read it again. I didn’t get as much “done,” but I got more done. Know what I mean?
There are times when we need to stop rushing, and pull up a rocking chair with the words of Jesus.
Let’s not rush past his words. “Abide in me, and I in you.”
Notes:
-Bible quotes, ESV.
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