The Key to Happiness

Abiding in the Lord is the key to happiness; not obedience, but abiding.

If obedience was a necessary precursor to happiness, you would be under the law. Your happiness would depend upon your ability to follow rules, and would ebb and flow depending upon how “good” you have been on a particular day.

However, if your happiness depends upon abiding in the Lord, then your supply of contentment fails only when you separate yourself from Him. And so you need never experience separation from the Lord. Jesus died so that you could have consistent, unfailing, permanent oneness with God.

And here is the wonderful benefit of abiding: the Lord counts it as obedience. Because abiding is the precursor of true obedience, it is tallied for you as obedience itself. In this instance the presence of the seed (abiding) assures the plant (obedience) will grow. This is how Abraham was accepted. His faith was counted as righteousness, and in the same way your abiding will be counted as obedience.

Simply because something is hidden does not mean that it is not present. You sometimes despair because your outward behaviors have not yet been drawn into alignment with your obedient heart. You must understand this: nothing can stop a process God has set into motion. That is why you must not judge your fellow human beings. You can’t tell from looking at the outward appearance what the heart holds.

God sees your heart and He knows you are abiding in Him. You are obedient and you are His own. Do not give way to fear. Trust the Lord and do not give way. You are accepted. All is well. Do not be afraid.

Scripture: "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you" (John 15:4-7 ESV)

Note: The NIV translates the word "abide" as "remain." Here is the webster.com definition of "abide,": "to wait for, to endure without yielding, to bear patiently, to accept without objection; to remain stable or fixed in a state, to continue in a place."