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Enjoy Life, Enjoy God


Dale Patterson

ABIDE

June 30, 2010

It's an old, seldom-used word, "abide." To hang out, to stay together, connected. Our cat and dog don't like it when we leave them, get in the car, drive away, but they like it when we come home, sit on the couch, and they come alongside us. They like us all there, then we can all abide.

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"Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me."
- John 15:4 TNIV

Remain = abide. Jesus says there are no Lone Ranger Christians, we have to stay connected to the vine, to him. Imagine a brightly shining light bulb on its cord, yet it keeps getting farther and farther from the plug until it disconnects. What happens? Darkness.

A thunderstorm blew through last evening, and I lost a few branches from a tree in my yard. Those branches are goners. They are no longer part of the vine. Friends, stay connected to the Vine; he's Jesus Christ. Through genuine fellowship with one another, time in worship, time in studying and applying God's Word. Indeed, there is life in the Vine.
Joyfully,

Dale Patterson