When I first thought about writing on today’s topic, I thought that I was going to write about really living into a place. This is our first holidays in our new home and the whole idea of decorating and entertaining is something I’m looking forward to. Oddly, the biblical image that came to mind was a negative one. I thought of the Prodigal Son’s older brother. He was pretty miffed when Father threw the party for the useless piece of related DNA. He went into the whole: I never left home. I’ve been loyal and you never even gave me a goat to party with my buds. He was home the whole time, but never really there.
But that’s not what I want to write about. I was thinking about abiding and I went to John’s gospel to Jesus’ words in chapter 15. I have always thought of this as the “abiding” passage, in the same way that 1 Corinthians is the love chapter, and Psalm 23 is the Shepherd Psalm. I ended up pulling out my Greek New Testament, and my Lexicons. And I found something I never noticed before.
Chapter 15 contains multiple references to abiding or remaining. We are to remain in the vine. We are to abide in his love. We are to allow his words to abide in us. The word “meno” is used throughout the New Testament and means to dwell, lodge, rest settle, endure, continue unchanged, to persevere, to be constant, to be in close and settled union. In John 15:16 Jesus uses it to refer to producing fruit that will last, that will be permanent.
Our hot water heater went out on Thanksgiving. Thankfully, it was at the end of the day after almost all the dishes had been washed and daughter was able to do all the laundry she had brought with her to dinner. Things like that happen. What made this particularly frustrating is that the hot water heater had been replaced right before we moved in here in June of this year—6 months ago. There not supposed to break down that fast. When I was sharing this event, someone was quick to remind me that fewer and fewer things are made to last these days. We live in a disposable age where the economy depends on consumers buying new instead of trying to repair.
I was also thinking about this when I sat down the other night with my grandkids to watch a Christmas program on TV. There were so many commercials geared to stir up a greedy spirit in them. Buy this new toy. Get this new upgrade. Your life won’t be complete without this gadget. I looked at my grandkids and saw their wide-eyed innocent lives being grabbed. They didn’t know what I knew, that sure it looked good, but the fascination would wane and the toy would most likely break before the day was out. It just wouldn’t last.
That may be the sad truth in the consumer world, but in the spiritual realm we need something different. We need to be about producing fruit that will last. As you move into this Advent season will you ask God to show you how to connect your life to things will last?
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