Constantly Abiding

Alba 7-21-2024

CONSTANTLY ABIDING

I John 2:24-29

Frank Laubach, was born in the United States. At the age of 45, while working as a missionary in the Philippines, Frank Laubach dedicated himself to the practice of abiding constantly in the presence of Christ.

On January 20, 1930 he wrote this: “Submission is the first and last duty of man. That is exactly what I have been needing in my Christian life. Two years ago a profound dissatisfaction led me to begin trying to line up my actions with the will of God about every fifteen minutes or every half hour. Other people to whom I confessed this intention said it was impossible. I judge from what I have said that few people are trying even that. But this year I have started out trying to live all my waking moments in conscious listening to the inner voice, asking without ceasing, “What, Father, do you desire said? What, Father, do you desire done this minute?”

During the remaining 40 years of his life, his close, continual communion with God, caused some to label him a Modern Christian Mystic. That term, Mystic, sounds kind of … mystical … doesn’t it? It presents a picture someone sitting on top of a hill, chanting and meditating. Well, don’t let that term fool you. Here are just a few of the things Frank Laubach accomplished.

As a missionary, he became concerned about literacy. He developed the “Each one teach one” literacy program. And he founded the first world-wide literacy program. He wrote more than 50 books, many of them best-sellers. He traveled so much of the globe that he was called the most traveled man of his times.

When presented with a Man of the Year award, he responded, “The Lord will not wish to count my trophies, but my scars.” He is the only American missionary to be honored on a U.S. postage stamp. And that just scratches the surface. The point is that we don’t have to disconnect from the world in order to live in the presence of Christ.

So what is the way that we can constantly abide in the things of the Lord that makes sense in the world where we live? I think that the apostle John gives us the answers in I John 2:24-29. Here is what he writes: “24 Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.

“26 These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. 27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

“28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. 29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.”

In these verses John is urging us to abide in Christ because not only will it give us confidence in our faith in Him, but also that we might not be ashamed when He comes. John again is addressing his readers as little children. This is an affectionate address for his audience, and not a description of them spiritually. John dearly loved his readers, just as we should love each other in the body of Christ.

With earnest tenderness, we’re urged to “abide”. This is one of the apostle John’s favorite terms. He used it some 24 times in this book. “Abide” is an old English word which means, “to remain” or “stay.” Some translations use the word “continue.” Abiding in Jesus is not meant to be passive, but to be an active purifying of our lives as we pursue holiness. It’s the idea of constantly remaining in a deep and intimate relationship with God. Or as one commentator says, “to be permanently at home with the Lord, and for the Lord to be at home with you.”

This letter of the apostle John teaches us that as we abide, we will be obeying, believing the truth, living like Jesus, and loving like Jesus.

Still, it may be hard for many to stay faithful as a Christian. We live in a post Christian world; an almost pagan society. And the world displays all its glitzy attractions and idols of sport, and social media and gaming, and entertainment and technology and temptations. Christians can get caught up in many mazes, and wander down the many byways and fruitless paths.