Tending Scattered Wool

Abiding is not a value held in esteem in our current culture of rush to get someplace and get stuff done. “Keep things moving along” is the general sentiment. Relationship does not grow in the currents of rush.

Abiding is one of those words that is used so much in our Christian vernacular that our imaginations glaze over with the mere mention of the word. A fresh inspiration around this imperative could be of help.

An example.  When I go to a movie, I abide with the entire experience. I am engaged, sometimes even a bit transfixed. Seeing, hearing, wondering, feeling, emoting – I am “all in” so to speak.  This metaphor provides a bit of stimulation to imagining a spirituality of abiding, with the caveat that life is not usually as intense as a movie and we progress over time. Slowly. And that is a grace too. The other option sounds exhausting.

Jesus’ imperative to us is to abide, remain, keep to, stay present, attentive to the subject at hand. God is always the subject in our lives.

Three fundamental realities beckon our abiding: Jesus, his Word, and one another. Three blogs to imagine a spirituality of abiding.

First, abiding in Jesus.

Union is the relational impact of our life in Christ. We are “oned” with Father, Son and Spirit. Amazing.

As the Son is in the Father and the Father is in the Son, so the Son is in us and we in the Son (see John 14, 15, and 17). In the Son we are also unified with the Father. In 1 John 4 John says that we are in the Father and the Father is in us. The Spirit is the binding agent in this relational reality we find ourselves in. It is very beautiful. 

Jesus says, do not wander from this holding love of the Trinity. A growing awareness of Jesus’ abiding presence in and with us is the grace to avoid wandering.

What are the dynamics that facilitate one’s staying present to this Triune God? What distracts? I don’t take the newspaper with me to the movie theatre. I show up and am ready to be there with the story line of the movie. Yet, I sure am creative at importing all sorts of distractions, disruptions and wanderings into this abiding life. What are your particular distractions?

How might one respond to Jesus’ abiding presence during the ins and outs of any given day, in any place, at any time?

The implication of an un-abiding life is that our life is not up to anything of substance on our own, “for without me you can do nothing,” he warns. Nothing is not a little bit of something. Its nothing. We don’t “figure out” this abiding way. We are taught by Jesus. How is he teaching you this way?

What has he shown you, that is particular to you, that he uses to expand your capacity to be aware of he in you and you in he?

How might that, whatever that is, be increased or expanded, that he may deepen your abiding? Might I encourage you to give greater swaths of time to that? 

A Shepherd’s Reality
When we consider the life of a shepherd in the field with her or his flock, we are aware that they face heat by day, cold by night, rain or snow at either time, bandits, thieves, predators, and all sorts of stuff sheep get themselves into – sore hooves, briers, cliffs, illnesses, holes,
snakes….Shepherding is a never-ending demanding job.

Little wonder that God uses the shepherd metaphor to describe how he relates to us – he pours himself out to us, always tending to as the sheep of his pasture. Our Lord is the Shepherd-King!

Jesus suffered for our well-being. So too do shepherds endure hardship in pursuit of the well-being of those for whom they care.

Like Shepherd, like shepherds.

Gospel Orientation
The temptation is to bear down and just press on in this work. But there is no gospel in “try harder.”

The invitation for all of our life in Christ is him living his life in and through us. Paul’s well-known testimony is “not I, but Christ lives his life in me (Galatians 2:20).”

As shepherds, we abide in Christ that he may  live his life through us as we care for others.

This is not merely a utilitarian relationship. It is one born of sacrificial love. Jesus has given his life for and to us in love for his Father and for us. The Father and the Son have sent the Spirit to bind us to themselves and to pour out life and love into us. As shepherds, this is what (who) we offer to others.

So as we press on in the care of others, even at personal cost to ourselves, Jesus will live his life in us and through us. Outwardly, we may experience all sorts of adversities, inwardly God will be renewing us day by day (see 2 Corinthians 4).

This is the Christ-life manifested in the context of our service to others.

Here is how Paul described it, “He (Jesus) is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me (Colossians 1:28-29, emphasis mine).”

Christ powerfully works in Paul. Paul strenuously contends for the maturation of the flocks.

Fear Not Hardship
Fear is one way the enemy causes us to draw back. What if I am rejected? What if I am misunderstood? What if this costs me too much? What if…..?

Jesus knows all these concerns and he continues to pour his life into us. The Gospel orientation in life is that because Jesus is always enough, there is always enough to go around.

Jesus’ all sufficiency is in direct opposition to a scarcity mindset.

So we lean into Jesus and he offers himself to us and through us to others.

Be encouraged. Jesus is with you and in you. The Father sees you and pours his life into yours through the Spirit and the written Word. We are never alone.

How has God been shaping and using you in this area of caring for others?