What does “abide” mean?

As I shared the other day, I chose the word “ABIDE” to be my focus for 2016. In addition, it’s also going to be the direction CWK flows in this year. I hope you’ll join me in learning what it means to abide in Christ.

In John 15:4, Jesus told His followers to “Abide in me, and I in you. As a fruit cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” This is the “theme verse” of our entire abide study.

To start us off, we need to learn what “to abide” means. I don’t know about you, but this is one of those words I’ve heard thrown around in Christian circles… but I’m always a bit fuzzy as to what it really means.

So let’s check out the definition of “to abide:”

To Abide:

So Jesus wants us to abide in Him (see John 15)… to stay continuously in His presence. Consistently in His presence. Not departing from His presence.

Denotation vs connotation

Now that we know the denotation (dictionary definition) of the verb “to abide,” it’s time to look at it’s connotation.

Meaning, why would Jesus use this word instead of just “to stay?”

I think it goes back to the noun form of this word- abode.

I’ve heard people say “Welcome to my humble abode” before, and I know abode is the noun form of the verb abide… but what is an abode? Is it a tiny cabin in the woods? A lake house? A cozy cottage?

According to dictionary.com, an abode is “a place where a person resides; residence; dwelling; habitation; home” or “an extended stay in a place; sojourn.”

Wow.

So when Jesus said “Abide in me,” he’s asking us to make him our abode- a place of extended stay.

He doesn’t want to be that ski lodge we go to once every blue moon for a weekend vacation; he wants to be the place of our extended dwelling. Where we are all the time.

He wants to be our home.

Psalm 91:1-2 says “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust’.”

When we abide (stay continuously) in Jesus, we gain safety. God is our fortress and our deliverer. Staying in His presence forever may seem scary at first, but in the end it is the best decision we will ever make.

This month, I encourage you to ponder what it means to abide in Christ, and how you can start abiding in Christ in your day to day life.

We’ll be talking more about abiding in Jesus and what that means this month, but for now I hope we have a better grasp on what this word means.

Posted by Kara Beth & filed under Devotionals. This post has 3 comments.