...pitch your tent...

One thing we can all agree is how surprising God is in the depths of our soul. Anything I ever write or think about God is such a distant approximation when compared to my experience of God coming to me in the depths of my soul. I am forever stunned and surprised at God whenever He draws me into His loving and merciful presence. This is why so many of my encounters with the Lord have brought me to tears. Who am I that He should be with me and speak to me and forgive me?

Years ago I was in a theology class at Boston College with a professor who was teaching a class on the Prophet Amos. This professor, Fr. Philip King, spent half of each year in the Holy Land conducting some of the most important Biblical archaeological digs at that time. He then spent the spring semester teaching Biblical Theology at Boston College. Because he spoke all the ancient languages and often admitted he would make a better Rabbis than a Priest, his classes were always filled with Rabbinic Students from the nearby Rabbinic Seminary. One day in class the observation was made about the Prophet Amos that he desired so much to abide forever with God.

At that moment one of the Rabbinic students remarked that the Hebrew verb to abide in literally means to pitch your tent in.

Consider now this most amazing and powerful teaching of Jesus in John 15:

Jesus said: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3 You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10 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. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” John 15:1-11.

Permit me now to substitute “to pitch my tent in” with the verb “to abide in” — and appreciate how powerful an image this is for your life:

Jesus said: 4 Pitch the tent of your life in Me just as I pitch the tent of My life in you. For just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it pitches its tent of life in the vine, neither can you unless you pitch the tent of your life in Me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who pitch the tent of your life in Me and I pitch the tent of My life in them bear much fruit, because apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 Whoever does not pitch the tent of your life in Me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you pitch your tent in Me and My words, My tent, I pitch in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become My disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; so pitch the tent of your life in My love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will pitch the tent of your life in My love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and just as I have pitched the tent of My life in His love.

Can you see how rich an image it is that Jesus does not call us to a shallow relationship with Him! No, Jesus is taking up residence in our hearts and souls — He is pitching the tent of His life and His love in our hearts and souls. So also is He calling us to do the same — to pitch the very tens of our life and love in Him! If you have ever pitched a tent you know it takes time and effort, and once the tent is pitched it is a secure place to spend the night. It is a strong protection from the elements. So is the relationship we have with the Lord, if we do everything He tells us to do — if we set up the tent of our life in Him! For that is what He promises that He does for us every moment of our life. Jesus pitches the tent of His life and love in our lives. No casual relationships allowed!

May we all pray for one another that we will pitch our lives in Him, completely.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.

From the Bible:

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing, but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another” John 15:12-17.

“24 All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us”1 John 3:24.

“9 Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God; whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son” 2 John 1:9.

“31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free”

John 8:31-32.

“7 If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” John 15:7.

“And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he is revealed we may have confidence and not be put to shame before him at his coming” 1 John 2:28.

“And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three, and the greatest of these is love”

1 Corinthians 13:13.