Over on the blog, I shared how we must find our identity if we ever want to reinvent ourselves or follow through on a resolution – especially since I think fall is a great time to do just that.
But how exactly do we find our identity? One way is to pick up Jamie Winship’s book on the topic, which has been immensely helpful for me. In his first chapter, he unlocks the secret to finding your identity: It starts with abiding in Christ.
If you follow Jesus, you’ve likely heard the term “abiding” before. It stems from the command in John 15:4, “Abide in me and I in you.” But what does that mean? In its simplest form, it’s being with Jesus. As Winship quotes John Piper, abiding is “the act of receiving and trusting all that God has and is for us in Christ.” He further breaks it down into four components: attention, awareness, annunciation and action.
Without getting too heady, abiding is being in communion with Jesus. It’s not a formulaic “quiet time” every morning, although that can be part of it. It’s not a set prayer every day, although prayer is vitally important. It’s not memorizing a certain number of scriptures, although that can result from it and is always a good idea. Rather, it’s cultivating a relationship with the one who should orient your entire life.
Put it this way: If God is the one who designs and bestows our identity, we need to not just know him but be in a relationship with him to understand that identity. Relationship involves time; it involves conversation; it involves listening; it involves a type of dance where each person feels the movements of the other where mere words fall short. That’s abiding.
I can honestly say that up until about three months ago, I didn’t really understand what abiding meant. Sure, I had heard it, but I never knew how to really practice it. After my wife and I went on a retreat where abiding was the topic of the weekend, I finally came back and “got it.”
That led to more regular times with God. Deeper conversations with him. Intentional listening sessions. It led to clearing my schedule for him, to giving things up to be with him and taking things on that I knew would please him. And all of that has led to a newfound understanding and an embrace of my identity.
I’ll leave you with something Winship says early in his book. “You see, a person doesn’t learn to abide,” he writes. “A person abides and then learns what happens as a result of abiding.”
So what exactly does abiding look like for you? I can’t give you the formula. But what I can tell you is that if you pursue it, it will become clear – and then you can stand in awe at what happens next.