Abiding in Christ is a beautiful picture of relationship and love and dwelling that has always drawn me. The language of abiding in scripture lures me in to God. The idea of hunkering down inside of God’s love and glory and character astounds me. Can I really do this? He wants me to do this? Oh, yes. But as much as this idea of ‘abiding’ sparks hope in my heart, I find too often I just don’t know what it looks like in real life. I’m a visual person. I want to see what abiding looks like in the everyday busyness of life. Of course, the gospel writers paint a very beautiful picture of Christ abiding in the Father and His call to us to do the same. And still I struggle.
Today I realized something amazing. Abiding is something I talk about a lot. I love the word “marinate”. I use it a lot. Ask my friends and family. And most of the time I’m not referring to food when I say it. When I say I want ‘to marinate’ in something, I’m referring to my deep and heartfelt longing to absorb every last morsel of goodness from an experience or idea or person. That is the very idea of marinating, isn’t it? We marinate food so that the wonderful scents and flavors of the marinade penetrate the very fibers of the food transforming it into something savory and wonderful.
God is calling us to marinate in Him. With every thought, word, action, and moment of my day, God wants me to be marinating in Truth and Love and Light so that during my lifetime I will more and more look and sound and act like my Savior. So much so, that when others observe my life they will taste and see that the Lord is good. God will have penetrated my fibers so completely that the very heart and soul of me will be transformed into something savory and wonderful and God-like.
So, maybe I do understand abiding a bit better than I thought.
