Commentary: Abide with us

Thinking about God constantly is the way we can have God abide with us.”

The fourth verse of the song, "O Little Town of Bethlehem," says, “O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend on us, we pray; cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell; o come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!” This prayer should be the desire of every Christian.

We should desire that the Lord live inside our hearts and lead and direct our lives. The Holy Spirit comes to each person, seeking his repentance and trust. But God created man with free will to love Him and invite Him in or to reject Him. It is tragic that most people do not invite the Lord to live in their hearts, but they reject Him. Satan has succeeded at deceiving most people into not believing in Christ and even in God the Father.

Occasionally, you will see a sign proclaiming, “Wise men still seek Him.” How very true this is! My definition of wisdom is simply knowing Christ as Savior. What could possibly be more important than securing heaven as the destination of your soul? And the Bible makes very clear that Jesus Christ is the absolute only way to heaven. In John 14:6, Jesus claims, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” To me, that is undebatable. Jesus is clearly the only way to heaven. We must remind ourselves often during the day to abide with God if we would have Him abide with us.

James suggests in chapter 4 and verse 6, “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” How to draw near to God? Love Him, pray to Him, give Him praise and glory, for only He deserves glory. In fact, He created us to give Him glory. And God wants us to be obedient. He has told us what we should be like in His Word, the Holy Bible. Unfortunately, most people never open a Bible. Even Christians today are remiss at studying God’s Word. And how they suffer as a result!

Eleanor Roosevelt once wisely said, “Life is what you make it.” Some will ask, “Why did God not make everyone good and to love Him? The answer is that God gave us free will in order that we might choose to truly love Him. Real love is always voluntary. Love of God is voluntary. The Great Commission that Christ gave us is to love God first and foremost and to love other people as ourselves. Loving others can be a tall order until we realize that love really means meeting the needs of other people. And the greatest need by far is the Gospel message. All Christians are commissioned to get the Word out. We are to tell others, especially unbelievers, how to be saved.

God wants us to be His friends. Some men have been. Examples are Abraham, Job, Enoch, Noah, Moses, and David. There are many more, but they all desired to be close to God. If we would have God abide with us, we must remind ourselves often during each day to abide with God in order that He might abide with us. That is why the Apostle Paul advised us to “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Rick Warren once said, “You must train your mind to remember God—all day long.” Job and David wrote about thinking about God’s Word all day long. In Psalm 119:97, David wrote, “O how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.” Thinking about God constantly is the way we can have God abide with us.

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Ralph Fudge is the pastor of Big Ochlocknee Baptist Church in Coolidge, Ga., and has a Master’s degree in theology from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.C