“Like most writers and speakers, John had favorite expressions….One of his pet words is this ‘abide’, significant of the quiet, contemplative temper of the man, but significant of a great deal more. He uses it, if I deem correctly, somewhere between 60 and 70 times in the Gospels and Epistles, far more than all the other instances of its use in the rest of the New Testament put together. To John, one great characteristic of the Christian life was that it was the abiding life. The Christian life is a life of dwelling in Christ. I have said that this is one of John’s favorite words. He learned it from his Master. It was in the upper room where it came from Christ lip’s….[Luke 24:29], with the pathos which was increased by the shadow of departure that lay over His heart and theirs. It was when He was on the eve of leaving them, as far as outward presence was concerned, that He said to them so tenderly, “Abide in Me, and I in you [John 15:4].” —– An excerpt from the book, “Music For The Soul”, by Alexander Maclaren