THERE ARE NO SPIRITUAL BATTERIES

Are you abiding in Jesus? (If you haven't first read this blog post concerning prayer, I suggest that you do so.)

When I was a kid, power outlets were far less important than they are now, especially power outlets out in public. In fact, in most business/public type buildings, power outlets were a mostly, unused and irrelevant necessity (irrelevant for almost all of the public/customers passing through/by that business or building), marring the otherwise pristine walls; and mostly only used for decorative lamps or the cleaning crew’s vacuums. I am not talking about individual offices, but the public sections of these buildings… especially the long hallways of airports. I can remember discussions as a kid about “Why would they put a power outlet right there?”.

In fact, if you told anyone back then that these same outlets would become coveted pieces of property, they would have looked at you like you were insane… even more so if you told them that people would crouch up against that same wall, sometimes for hours, just to be able to plug something into that outlet.

Some of you are reading this still thinking that such a notion of “important power outlets” is insane… but that only tells me that you haven’t been to a busy airport in a while.

Why an airport?

Because nowhere is a power outlet more prized real estate than at a busy airport (train stations or bus stations can also work for this). The waiting area of an airport used to be determined almost exclusively by where the airport placed its chairs and restaurants. But for many travelers, they are beholden to the location of the closest power outlet, more than anything else. Their tablet, their phone, their computer, the “personal power station” (that they carry with them in hopes of not being beholden to “the outlet” and/or to give them access to even more power as they travel – as not all seats have power outlets), and now even their luggage, all often need charging before they board their flight/bus/train. I have been there myself. This is why when I travel, I not only bring a few personal power stations, but also an extension cord, that has a 3 outlet end on it (which also came in VERY handy when I had jury duty last time!).

And before you start touting that this is why you live life today like your own personal version of the Amish, with only a pencil, paper, Day Planner calendar, and a numeric keypad flip phone – just keep in mind how much you still hate it when your flip phone runs out of battery, and you need to use it.

But now the tools that we use to work and play with in today’s age, all need electrical power.

And that brings us back to the mighty power outlet. Without access to a power outlet, our VERY expensive tools of the modern age because nothing more than very expensive weight that we are uselessly carrying.

Can I ask you something along these lines… how often do you get back to the mighty power outlet of your life?

Jesus didn’t have electricity during his human life, but He very much understood the principle of the power outlet, as we read here in John 15: 4-11:

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”

My modern-day vernacular version to verses 5 and 6: 

I am the power source and my Father is the electrician. Plug into me, and I will power you. Just as the device with an empty battery cannot function, so neither can you unless you plug into me. You can’t do anything unless you plug into me. If anyone doesn’t plug into me, that person will run out of power. And what do you do with even the most expensive device that you can’t ever even just turn on? You get rid of it and get one that works.

I could go on, but I think that you get the point.

So how do you “abide in”, “plug into”, Jesus?

I cover some of that answer here: It Starts With Prayer and Bible Reading; which includes a discussion on when you are held back in/from prayer because of bitterness at God.

Summary, prayer, reading the Bible, worship, discussions with other believers who are fully surrendered to Him, and resolving bitterness against Him (covered in part in the blog link above) are all ways to begin plugging into Jesus. And then you will truly begin to keep His commandments.

Did that last statement surprise you? Reread the passage above… He himself included keeping His commandments in His teaching about abiding in Him.

Why?

Because truly keeping His commandments is actually a fruit of loving Him and abiding in Him.

Before you leave this post with, “Got it Ioannis, plug into Jesus – do some prayer and Bible time and good to go” (especially if you are thinking of most modern-day cell phones ability to quick charge to 50%), let me address one major difference between my modern-day version of that John 15 passage and His version - and the impact of that major difference: batteries.

There are no spiritual batteries. This is a VERY difficult concept for us to understand in today’s worldview. I mean, aside from batteries, our vehicles have fuel tanks and/or batteries, our houses have hot water heaters, some of our houses have wood piles, some of our houses of solar panels and batteries, and our bodies have tummies and even fat. Everywhere we look, we store items and energy for later use. Many of our cell phones sit on the charger at night and are ready to go with us in the morning. In fact, hardware and software companies now make software that regulates the charging of the attached batteries, to improve battery life. That is how important and prevalent batteries are. In fact, batteries are so important and prevalent in our lives, that we even talk about our need to “recharge our batteries” when we ourselves are tired and need a break. But there are no spiritual batteries.

So, to fully understand this passage, we have to go back to the days before anything was “wireless” or even before most things were battery powered. If a device wasn’t plugged into the power outlet, it simply wasn’t going to power on or work. And, if you ever unplugged that device, it would immediately lose ALL of the settings that you painstakingly took time to meticulously set. How great was the outcry when someone was working on the computer, and neglected to save their work right before a power outage? Yes, there was a time when document processing software did not auto save, nor did they have back-up batteries. At any moment, your computer could just be randomly powered off for any number of power outage reasons. You quickly got into the habit of hitting control-S over and over. Because, if you were not connected to flowing electrical power come through the wall outlet, you had no power in your device at all. In like manner, if you are not connected to the vine (Jesus’ version of a power outlet), you are dead though you live. Again, there are no spiritual batteries.

“Ok then Ioannis, what does actually abiding in Jesus truly look like? Do I need to sit in a quiet room all day, every day - praying and reading the Bible?”

No.

Jesus didn’t do that, and He fully abided in His Father. The Apostles didn’t do that, and they are some of the best examples, outside of Jesus, of abiding in Him that we have.

Now, before I go on, those comments above also don’t reduce the importance of a daily, set time(s) of prayer and Bible reading, alone with Jesus. In fact and again, a daily, set time(s) of prayer and Bible reading alone with Jesus, and one that is constantly growing in length and efficacy, is a key beginning to abiding in Jesus. But what else could be abiding in Jesus if it isn’t only that?

Look, let me distill it all down to this - abiding is really about a constant focus on Him, His Kingdom, and the work(s) that He has assigned you to do in His Kingdom. Every moment of your life should have Him as your constant and conscious focus. And since where you treasure is, there your heart will be also… if your heart is on Him and His Kingdom, your focus and mindset will be constantly be on Him and His Kingdom, and therefore your actions will be on Him and His Kingdom… no matter if you spend your time behind a pulpit, behind a telephone, behind a steering wheel, or behind a cash register.

So, here is my better modern-day vernacular version to verses 5 and 6: 

I am the power source and my Father is the electrician. Plug into me, and I will power you. Just as an unplugged device cannot do what it was designed to do, neither can you, unless you plug into me and stay plugged into me. You can’t truly function unless you stay plugged into me. If anyone doesn’t plug into me, that person will immediately be out of power. And what do you do with even the most expensive device, when that device doesn’t fulfill the function(s) that you purchased it to do, especially if it won’t even power on? You get rid of it and get a new device that does do what you need it to do.

Not staying plugged into Jesus is where MANY Christian leaders go horribly wrong. In fact, the simple answer to MANY problems that you face in life actually begins with abiding in Jesus! Our efforts in life are absolutely futile if you aren’t constantly and consistently plugged into Jesus. And more importantly, we need this “plugging-in” for us to bear much fruit for the Kingdom. Why does bearing fruit truly matter? Because bearing fruit is how we glorify God AND prove that we are His disciples.  And not bearing fruit is cause for a branch to be cut off and thrown into the fire. That is very strong verbiage that Jesus used. Does this mean that we focus on bearing fruit? No, we abide in Jesus. We stay plugged into Jesus. Bearing good fruit is the natural bi-product of being plugged into Jesus. If you are not bearing fruit, today is the day to get plugged back in and fight hard to not unplug from Him!

Are you feeling the pressure of the very idea of abiding in Jesus and thinking to yourself that it isn’t possible? He wouldn’t have said it if it wasn’t possible. But I admit, it can sure feel that way. But He WILL help you… if you take steps in His direction to begin.

So, are you abiding in Jesus?

That question feels totally different than it did as the first line of this post, doesn’t it?

Abide!