“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”
1 John 4:15-16
What does it mean to abide in love? What does it mean to abide in God?
It means that you discover in the Gospel a home for your soul. It means that you find in God a home for you spirit. In other words, you are welcome when you come to God.
When you go home, it’s your place. It’s for you to arrive to. You do not knock. You do not ring the bell. You walk in, sit on the couch, you can sit in your underwear if you want to. It’s no problem––it’s your home. You are always welcome there.
So it is in God. You are always welcome to come to him. That’s what it means to abide in him. It’s recognizing that you are at home when you are with God.
When you visit someone else, it is customary to knock. You wait outside, seeing if they will let you in. This is rather normative when you visit someone else’s home, but it is completely ridiculous if you were to knock on your own door. And yet so many people stand outside, knocking away, thinking that they have to request permission to enter the throne room of God.
Others avoid knocking altogether. The simple reason for this is that they are afraid of rejection. Fear of unworthiness pushes them away from God. So they seek out worthiness elsewhere.
One way to “feel worthy” is through obedience. Some Christians wait to pray until they have amassed and collected a number of “good deeds.” After feeling rather obedient for a time, they will feel comfortable to come before God in prayer. But this is anti-Gospel behavior. Obedience is downstream from love. And we love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19). Therefore, it is God’s love for us in the Gospel that leads us to obey. We cannot obey in order to be loved by him––we cannot become worthy.
So, the Gospel does not say that you can come in your brokenness and sin. It says that you must come in your brokenness and sin. It does not give you the option.
Praise God! He has given humanity a home––in the Gospel and in his love. What a joy to be able to approach God on the merit of Christ. To be able to kick off our shoes in the house of God and dwell there, completely welcomed because of Jesus. A glorious sight, a soul at home in God.
J. A. Syverson 