A Case Study on Abiding

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine; and you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John 15:4-7

As I mentioned in the previous post, it’s been a busy few weeks thanks to some training at work. I’ve still been in town, but for the last five-and-a-half weeks I’ve been in Airman Leadership School. That’s where the Air Force teaches us how to be non-commissioned officers. It ended up being pretty busy. We spent 7am to 4:30pm in classes, and then we had 3-4 hours of homework to do in the evening. Combine that with still trying to be a husband, a dad, and a Cub Scout leader, and I had some pretty long days.

I’ll be honest with you: I’m getting old. In college I could pull off short nights without a problem. I’d stay up until 2am and do what it took to get my work done. Now? I can hardly make it past 11pm. I just plain didn’t have enough in the tank to complete everything, and I realized this pretty early on in the class.

So what did I do? I started praying. I asked the Lord on a regular basis to take care of the things I needed to do, everything from specific assignments to waking up in the morning to situations with other people. The sense I had all the way through was that I was simply along for the ride, that Christ was my life and my strength. Thinking about that passage in John 15, I would have withered had I not abided in Him. Apart from Christ I could do nothing.

But with Christ? I could seriously ask whatever I wished, and it was done for me. He was incredible all the way through, so much so that I received the highest award in the class at the end. I don’t say that to brag; I say that to tell you how amazing Jesus Christ is. He kept me going when I didn’t have anything left. And I wasn’t in some sort of super-spiritual mode, either; at times I felt I was hanging on by a thread and cried out in my desperation. But He was always there, and literally every time I asked for something, He gave it.

I pray that you will see Jesus Christ as He is: faithful when we’re not, sustaining us when we have nothing left in ourselves, and generous to give even more than we ask. The last six weeks weren’t the most difficult situation any of us have been in, but they were a picture for me of what happens when we abide in Him. Abide in Him as He abides in you, for apart from Him you can do nothing.

Grace,

Ryan