Psalms 97, 99 * 115; Micah 7:7-15; Acts 3:1-10; John 15:1-11abide in my love..... This is what Jesus instructs his disciples today while he is telling them that this abiding makes them fruitful vines in God's kingdom. This sounds like such an easy thing to do, when in fact it is enormously challenging. To open ourselves to this love, to abide in it, requires us to change the way we work in the world, the manner in which we operate. By operating in the world in this way, we set ourselves apart from the way society and popular culture pushes us to act.
That tension, between society/culture and God's kingdom is the difficulty that rubs at all of us. Setting ourselves apart and yet still living in and operating in the world brings with it a daily tension we must live into. Taking the path of abiding in God's love, in Jesus' love, brings us a joy that is hard to articulate. We are promised that joy by Jesus today: I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
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Copyright 2009, John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.
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