Abiding Grace

Are you uncomfortable going to funerals or visitations?  It is nearly a phobia for many people.  It is not the deceased they are uncomfortable with; it is the living.  The primary fear that exists is simply, “What do I say?”  The reality that nothing that is said will really matter too much.  It is the presence of a friend or loved one or a mere acquaintance that matters the most.  It is caring enough to abide with the grieving if even for only a few minutes.

Here is a grace of God that should bring each believer great comfort and consolation.  Jesus abides with us.  He gives us abiding grace.  When we believe the Gospel message then a simple and wonderful thing happens.  Jesus comes to abide in us.  The word picture can be seen as one who takes a tent stake and drives it deep into the earth so that the tent stays standing even in fierce storms.  Jesus drives the stake of His presence deeply into us.  He sets up shop, so to speak, in our lives.  The book of John puts it that we abide with Him and Him with us.  We dwell together in the tent of our new birth and life with Christ.

When the storms of life assail us, He is there.  When the joys of life uplift us, He is there.  When doubts and fears beset us, He is there. In the mundaneness of everyday living, He is there. When we are busy, He is there.  When we are lonely, He is there.  When we age and everyone else seems to pass us by, He is there.  When we are tempted, He is there.  When we yield to temptation, He is still there and He is ready to hear our confession and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  He abides with us. 

When Jesus ascended into heaven He spoke to His followers and said, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”  He wasn’t waxing poetic.  He was speaking words of dearest comfort.  He said, “I am with you.”  That is what we bring to the grieving at a visitation or a funeral.  It is a simple statement made without words.  I am here and I care.  Jesus is with us always and He always cares.

Henry Lyte, who knew his health was declining and his ministry ending, wrote this simple song that has brought comfort to so many millions of people.  “Abide with Me.”

Abide with me, fast falls the eventide, the darkness deepens, Lord with me abide

When other helpers fail and comforts flee, help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day.  Earth’s joys grow dim, it glories pass away,

Change and decay in all around I see, O Thou who changest not abide with me.  

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