Abiding’s Two-Way Street

In “Abide in Me, and I in You; Therefore Walk with Me“, Elder David A. Bednar quotes from the book of Moses, chapter 6, verses 32 and 34 as follows “And thou shalt abide in me, and I in you; therefore walk with me.” This was said to the prophet Enoch and denotes a two-way street of abiding. But what does it mean to abide in Christ? Christ abiding in us? How does that occur and how can we make it an integral part of our lives?

Abiding in Christ

In April of 2004, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave an address titled “Abide in Me“. I remember this talk because Elder Holland discussed a trip to Chile and the interactions he had with the saints there. I served my mission in Chile, and love the Chilean people. I also witnessed a lot of what Elder Holland described in his address.

In his talk, Elder Holland describes what it means to “abide”. He states “‘Abide in me’ is an understandable and beautiful enough concept in the elegant English of the King James Bible, but “abide” is not a word we use much anymore.” I love how he then looked at the same verse (John 15:4) in the Santa Biblia which is the Spanish language version of the bible used in Chile by the Latter-day Saints. The phrase in Spanish is “permanaced en mi”. “Permanacer” has a staying quality to it. It’s not just a temporary condition, but rather something more “permanent”. Elder Holland explains “The sense of this then is ‘stay—but stay forever.‘ That is the call of the gospel message to Chileans and everyone else in the world. Come, but come to remain. Come with conviction and endurance. Come permanently, for your sake and the sake of all the generations who must follow you, and we will help each other be strong to the very end” (emphasis added).

Another example is the account of the Rich Young Ruler. Jesus asked him to abide in Him by giving up all his riches. The young man had followed the commandments all his life, yet when asked to give up his possessions and follow Christ, he was unsure and went away saddened. In some ways, the young ruler wasn’t ready to “come permanently”.

As I look at how I can abide in Christ, I have to ask myself, “What things would prevent me from staying?” I have a strong testimony, gained through personal revelation, of Jesus Christ and His role in my salvation. I know who He is and what He has done for me. I also know that I have my weaknesses and that if I want to “abide in Him”, I need to work on those weaknesses. Some of them include:

Prayer

Consistent daily prayer is not necessarily a part of my life. I do keep prayers in my heart and it seems I’m always yearning/asking/thinking about my communication with God. However, am I doing what Elder Bednar teaches with regards to “praying sincerely to the Eternal Father in the name of His Beloved Son” in order to “[deepen] and [fortify my] covenant connection with Them.”

There is something powerful in truly focusing on praying. I have done it before, especially in down times. I believe that if I can turn that into a daily habit, then my connection will be improved and my actions more in alignment with the will of God.

Fasting

Admittedly, this is one of my hardest challenges. I’ve never quite gotten the knack of fasting, even when it would benefit me most. This is an area where improvement would allow for my spirit to overcome my flesh and allow more light inside me. I know that combined with sincere prayer it would strengthen my relationship with both God and Christ. And yet, I struggle.

Choosing Entertainment Over Gospel

The last area I’ll mention is choosing entertainment over the Gospel. There are times when I will just sit down and do nothing but watch a show or sports (even sports I don’t really follow) instead of ensuring that I have completed my Come Follow Me studies for the week. Abiding in Christ should take precedence, but I choose to not let it. God allows us this exercise of agency, but it can weaken our bond with Him.

Acknowledging my weaknesses and where I can improve does not indicate that I don’t abide in Christ. It just means I could do better. Don’t let your knowledge of your own weaknesses make you feel less. You are not less in His eyes and you can abide in Christ while working to be better.

Christ Abiding in Us

The second part Enoch learned is that Christ can abide in us. As long as we don’t drive Him out, He is there permanently. He doesn’t have the same issues with commitment that we do. Even when we feel like we are too far away for Him to affect our lives, we can detect His presence.

How do we invite Christ to abide in us? In John 15:10, the Savior states “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” This means that as we keep the commandments, Christ will abide in us. Notice also that this can be another way of explaining how God and Christ are one without them being the same individual. They abide in each other and are the perfect example of how we can do the same.

For me, one way to keep this knowledge and feeling of Christ abiding in me is when I partake of the sacrament. The words of the sacramental prayers remind me to “always remember him” and to “always have his spirit to be with [me]”. By remembering Him and keeping His spirit with us through obeying the commandments, we can feel Him abiding in us, filling us with light.

Conclusion

We can do a self-check anytime to see if we are abiding in Christ and allowing Christ to abide in us. Elder Bednar asks, “Is the Word in us? Are the truths of the Savior’s gospel written in the fleshy tables of our hearts? Are we coming unto and gradually becoming more like Him? Is the tree of Christ growing in us? Are we striving to become ‘new [creatures]’ in Him?” These questions can help us to look inward and evaluate where we can improve. These improvements then lead us to become more like Christ which in turn leads us to become more like the Father, with the ultimate goal of bringing us back into Their presence and obtaining immortality and eternal life.

Tips for Teaching

When teaching about abiding, you may want to discuss:

1. What does the word abide mean? Are there words we use today that convey the same meaning?
2. Have the class think of areas where they can improve so that they can more fully abide in Christ and have Him abide in them. Share some of your own and ask if anyone feels comfortable sharing theirs.
3. Discuss the questions Elder Bednar asks (Conclusion section above), focusing on things like “fleshy tables of our hearts” and “the tree of Christ”.