Arriving vs. Abiding

Arriving vs. Abiding

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” -John 15:7

Do you ever just feel like you want to “get there”? Are you always feeling tension between where you are now and where you feel called to be? I am reminded of a Switchfoot song, “This is Your Life”, whose lyrics reflected, “This is your life, are you who you want to be? This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be?” It’s true that we never “arrive” in our Christian walk – we are always maturing and progressing, until the day we leave this earth.

While it may be true we’re not quite where we want to be, we can still find contentment in our lives here and now. The world is always progressing, always wanting more and more, never satisfied. But as Christians, we have the answer for contentment in the arms of Jesus: “Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.” (Phillipians 4:11) “Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.” (1 Timothy 6:6)

How can we learn to be content? First, we can be thankful for what we have. Even people on the lower end of income in America have quite a lot compared to the world’s wealth, and also compared with any other time in history. Second, we can learn to be faithful. “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much” -Luke 16:10. Third and most important, we can learn to “abide” in God. That is, we can experience God’s presence most or all of the time, by worshipping, getting into the word, and having a “posture” of prayer. Once we are plugged into the source, we lack no good thing. (Psalm 84:11)

Are you abiding in God today? Let God’s arms surround you as you go through life. Life is much better when we’re abiding in Him.