To abide in the love of Christ is to make his love your home. You rest in him. His fireplace warms you from the winters of life. You abandon the old house of false love and move into his home of real love.
Adapting to this new home takes time. You’ve lived a life in a house of imperfect love. You think God is going to abandon you as your father did, or judge you as false religion did, or curse you as your friend did. He won’t, but it takes time to be convinced.
For that reason abide in him. Hang on to Christ the same way a branch clutches the vine. According to Jesus: “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4).
