Make Your Home in Me by Dr. Gary Oliver

Good Morning Friends,

When I was just a young boy my Sunday School teacher strongly encouraged me to memorize Bible verses . . . and by the time I started Biola I had memorized well over 200 verses. 

At the time I had no idea what an impactful & empowering blessing that scripture memorization would be.

One of the first verses I was encouraged to memorize was John 15:4 and at that time we only had the King James Version.  Here it is:

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.”

It seemed that “Abide in me” primarily meant go to Sunday school & church  . . . sing & tithe & read the Bible . . . tell others about Jesus etc.

In 2002 I read the same passage in Eugene Peterson's recently published and very uniqueparaphrase in The Message:

“Live in me.  Make your home in me just as I do in you.  In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the   vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me.” John 15:4 (The Message)

When Jesus says: “Make your home in me as I make mine in you,” He invites us to a uniquely intimate place that we can truly call “home.”

Home is that place or space where we can be strong and take courage and do not have to be afraid, where can choose to let go of our reactive defenses and be free, free from fears (fear not) & worries (fret not) & discouragements (faint not) . . . free from tensions, free from pressures.

Home is where we can smile & laugh & cry, embrace & dance, ponder & reflect, sleep long and dream quietly, eat, read, play, enjoy the sunset, listen to music, and be with a friend.

Home is where we can rest and become healed & healthier & whole.

The word “home” gathers a wide range of feelings and emotions up into one image, the image of a house . . . HIS house . . . where it is good to be: the house of love.

What might it look like this week for you to simply choose to invest just a wee bit more time in making Jesus your home by simply investing time with Him . . . waiting on Him . . . listening for and then to Him . . . and then smiling a bit more and encouraging others?

Just a thought.

Gary J. Oliver, Th.M., Ph.D.

Licensed Clinical Psychologist

Senior Facilitator, Going Deeper Together

2000 W. University Street

Siloam Springs,  AR 72761