Mobile phones can be so frustrating! I drop calls every time I drive down the road near my house. I’ll be talking to Greg, saying something important, and suddenly he’ll go silent. “Hello, hello, are you there? Are you there?”

Am I the only one who has noticed that everything these days is going wireless?

We have wireless phones, wireless Internet, and cordless irons.  This could come in handy, I suppose, if we wanted to iron the sheets on our beds or our clothes while we wear them . . . ok, not a great idea, as I can tell you from experience.

I hear that we will soon be going cordless in hospital operating rooms. The upside is that there will be no more tripping over cords or disconnected wires. But what if they lose the signal or drop the wireless connection? Oops, Doctor, we either dropped the signal or we just lost our patient!

No cords and no connections, sometimes helpful, sometimes not!

Often, we don’t want anything to hold us down or hold us back. We love our mobility!

But this isn’t the life of a Christian. No, we are told in John’s Gospel that we are to abide in, or stay connected to, Jesus the True Vine. Like a branch to a vine, we are only alive when we maintain the connection.

But what is abiding? This Greek word, used more than seven times in John 15, is packed with meaning. To abide means “to continue, remain, settle in, rest, depend on, to stay put.”

This is a concept that is difficult to understand for us Americans who value our independence and freedom. The average American family moves every five years, and the latest census figures reveal that more and more Americans are living alone.

Our ancestors were immigrants who pulled up roots and left their countries. Perhaps we may have gotten this urge to keep moving in our genes?

So how do we restless ones learn to settle down as part of God’s vine?

Jesus tells us how in Verse 7 that we must abide in His Word.  What does this mean?

It is great to read the Bible for inspirational stories, isn’t it? The lives of great men and women of faith challenge us to do better, love more, sacrifice for others, and give what we have even to those who don’t deserve it.

Of course, it is essential to study the Bible to understand correct doctrine. We must know truth from error, lest we believe the wrong things and thus believe in a false god.

But I also know that abiding in His Word is more than just inspirational or informational. In Colossians 3:16, we read, “Let the word of God dwell in you richly.” And David wrote in Psalm 19, “Your words are sweeter than the honeycomb to me.”

There is the great difference. I may know the Bible and I may believe the Bible, but does it go down into our hearts and affect how we see ourselves and the world around us?

Does it address our fears, our passions, our decisions, our dreams? Only when His Word abides in us richly will it make the difference between a fruitful and joyful life and a life that is barely hanging on.

When it comes to our connectedness with God, this is not optional. In fact, it is essential. His life needs to be flowing through us by means of the living Word of God read, believed, studied, memorized, meditated, and savored in all its sweetness.

He wants more than merely communication with us. Jesus want to commune with us.

My question for us today is, “Hello, hello, are we there?”