"Can I help with anything?"

1 John 3:²⁴ Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

1 John 4:¹³ By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

We have been considering the meaning and application of "abiding" in the Lord.  We have seen that if we abide or remain in Him, He will remain in us.  We have read that abiding in Him means to remain in His Word, His light and His love.  We have reflected on how to abide through purposely setting our thoughts on Him and purposefully investing our time in Him and with Him.  How will we know that we are abiding in the Lord?  We know because God, Himself...who is Spirit...rests, remains and resides within our being.  How can we tell that the Spirit is there?  We can tell when the fruit, or output, of our actions is centered on the wellbeing of others more than personal satisfaction.  When we find that our desires are to serve and help rather than to be served... When we respond to wrongs done to us with grace rather than anger...When we are concerned about the eternal dimension of life and that those we know find this life.  We begin to see evidence that His Spirit is within when our thoughts and actions take on His nature.

My wife told me a story that illustrates this kind of nature.  An associate at work told her of a favorite neighbor of his.  This neighbor was up in years...well into retirement.  He was a kind neighbor and offered friendly conversation and help with yard work.  He had battled cancer years ago and it had gone into remission for about 10 years, but then returned.  Eventually the disease wore him down and took his life.  Shortly after his death, his wife shared that it was her husband's habit to ask every morning and every evening, as he rose and before he retired to sleep: "Now is there anything I can do for you this morning" or "Is there anything I can do before we go to bed?".  This was his faithful habit every day.  He passed away one night, in his sleep.  But before going to bed he asked his wife one last time, "Now is there anything I can do for you before we sleep?"

The Holy Spirit is also known as "The Helper" and as He resides within He makes Himself available to help us and help others through us.  Like the loving neighbor, this is His nature and how He shows up in our lives.

Galatians 5:²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

blessings,

Rob Smith