Episode 10 - Abide - Extension Cords

A lamp in the middle of the room won’t shine without power. That simple image reframes the whole conversation about discipleship as we explore why trying harder rarely produces love, patience, or joy—and why abiding does. We take you from bios, the grind of mere physical life, to zoe, the spiritual life Jesus promises, using a clear, memorable analogy: you replicate at one end what you receive at the other.

We talk candidly about the beliefs that kink the cord. If you picture God as a stern, disappointed judge, you’ll carry that tone into every relationship. But when you meet the God who defines himself as love, your identity shifts to beloved, and compassion begins to overflow almost without effort. We share how the Shema gave us guardrails—if a practice doesn’t increase love for God and neighbor, it’s not forming us like Jesus—and how John 15 anchors the practice of abiding as the “plug end” of a life that bears fruit.

Expect practical language, not jargon. We diagnose impatience, anger, and shame as signs of short circuits to bring into the light, not flaws to hide. Repentance becomes an invitation to think with God and receive repair. As the connection strengthens, patience stops feeling like performance and starts feeling like power. And because God loves to work through people, the change in you becomes light for others: family, coworkers, the neighbor at the mailbox. Listen for the moment that resonates, pause, and simply say, “I receive that.” Then tell us—where is God rewiring you right now?

If this conversation helps you plug back into love, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so others can find their way to the source.

Abide In Christ by Andrew Murray:  Abide In Christ: A 31-Day Devotional for Fellowship with Jesus - Kindle edition by Murray, Andrew. Religion & Spirituality Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Transcript

Tempo: 120.0

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hello, listeners. This is Scott. Just want to say that Amy and I do these phone conversations. I mean, these conversations over the phone. And I just want to say that to begin with, that as you get older, technology somehow gets more challenging. Like it took two minutes for me to walk Amy through how to turn on do not disturb on your telephone.

SPEAKER_03 0:32

And it's legitimately an issue because I really don't do it that much.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Well, it legitimately is an issue because they made it so simple you can do it in about three seconds.

SPEAKER_03 0:48

I know that's the problem.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

And it just took you almost two minutes. So it's real. Age affects you significantly. And we're getting old. So welcome to the podcast, everyone. I hear you. Welcome to the podcast. So last week, as we were talking about discipleship, you know, a couple of things that we kind of summarized is, you know, look, some discipleship is not sitting in a classroom gaining information. It's learning to live life with Jesus. It's about discipleship. It's about mat it's not about mastering content. It's about being mastered by the one who loves us most and sits on the prone. Discipleship, it's not a program, it's a life lived so close to Jesus that his way becomes our way. And those are some of the things that we kind of talked about and fleshed out. So listen to that if you want to go back. But this week, Amy, tell me a little bit about, we want to talk a little bit about where your journey, transformation, began. Where did things shift for you?

SPEAKER_03 1:59

Yeah. So when we were talking about discipleship last time, I mentioned the repent piece. How that was okay for me personally was realizing I had thought about discipleship wrong, but it wasn't just about knowing, it was about doing being. Oh my gosh, I've been thinking about this wrong, repenting and thinking about it very differently. And so when that happened, I just remember spending a lot of the time asking the Lord like. These became the guardrails for me. So if what I was learning did not produce more fruit of love for God or love for others, then I kind of set that aside. So whatever the Lord was doing for with me, you know, in this season, that was the guardrails, love for God and love for others. So that's where we decided to kind of start today with those things in mind.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Yeah, and you know, one of the things that I I see in ministry and working with, you know, a large percentage of people that we connect with that didn't grow up in a Christian background is you know, it it's hard to love someone that you don't understand or know is trust is is loving. It's hard to trust someone that you know you don't understand is trustworthy. And so, you know, really just beginning with the understanding and growing in the knowledge of that God is loving and that God is trustworthy. Because if you don't believe those things, then you're not going to choose to trust him. And so, you know, one of the things that one of the recent illustrations, analogies, as you know, I think we've talked about, like, I'm an analogy person. Like, I don't understand things unless, you know, it's just the way God wired my brain that just kind of an illustration, you know, kind of comes to mind. And one of the neat things about that for me as a pastor is he's just sat around a lot of campfires and sat around in a lot of circles with just normal everyday people and had conversations to teach biblical principles and to lead people toward life in the kingdom by talking about really simple analogies that spoke to or illustrated a principle that of the Lord's, right? Like he sat around and talked about seeds, and they're so profound. Like there's I love this kind of my this term, you know, you know, majesty and simplicity. Like there's sudden, there's so like there's so much majesticness in being able to talk about a seed and understand the ways of the kingdom. And if you just look through Jesus' teachings, like he's always, you don't hear him often quoting a Bible verse, that happens, but he's explaining the principles of the kingdom and the principles found in scripture by by telling a story and an analogy. And so hopefully, in some small way, these analogies are helpful to understand, you know, what Jesus' teachings are and can be more life-giving for us. But like this analogy is an extension cord, right? Right. So, like we have not talked about this intentionally. So you and I are gonna have a really simple conversation about an incredibly simple concept, right? So if I put a lamp in the mental in the middle of a room where the cord could not reach an outlet, like what would you do if I said we need to turn that lamp on?

SPEAKER_03 9:09

I would go get an extension cord.

SPEAKER_00 9:12

Okay, and why would you get an extension cord?

SPEAKER_03 9:15

Because it would not reach. I needed to get the cord from the lamp to the outlet.

SPEAKER_00 9:24

Okay, so you flip the switch on the lamp in the middle of the room without it being connected. What's gonna happen?

SPEAKER_01 9:35

Nothing.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Right, nothing. And that's what life is like, and that's what Jesus is saying, life is like apart from me, John 15. Right? Apart from me, you can do nothing. Like Jesus came to give us a life of abundance, and the term he uses there, I think we've already mentioned is zoe, and so it means spiritual life, and so he came to give us a spiritual life in abundance, and so when things are as they should be, spiritual life is happening in us and through us. Fair? So before you became a Christian, did you experience life?

SPEAKER_03 10:17

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Okay, and what was that life?

SPEAKER_03 10:22

It was just physical life.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Physical life, right? So the Greek term would be bios, right? And so you you and I experience physical life, bios life, but Jesus comes on to the same scene to say, I have a whole new means of life to offer you, right? And it is an entirely different life, and it's a spiritual life, and I want to give it to you in abundance. So before Christ, before we received him, we were spiritually dead. We did not have that life in us or flowing through us, but we were physically alive, and that he came now to take what was spiritually dead and breathe life and give life to it. And so he came to offer us a spiritual life that we did not have apart from him. Make sense, Folly? And so, like a lamp in the truth in the room, we were intended and designed like somebody sat in a room somewhere and designed this lamp to have a uh light bulb screwed into it, and for that light bulb to produce light, and somebody, an engineer somewhere designed for that to happen and then created what they designed in order for that lamp to be in the middle of the room. Fair? And the same was true about an extension cord. Like an engineer sat in a room and designed an extension cord to do what? What does it actually do?

SPEAKER_03 12:00

Takes power to something.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

Okay. So what an extension cord does is it replicates what is given on one end and makes it available on the other end. And in this sense, it's electricity. Fair God designed uh us, mankind, uh, to be conduits in which uh what we are receiving uh is what is being offered into the world. Uh like since creation, everything that God chooses to do, he chooses to do through mankind. Now uh it's a work that he does, but he chooses to do it, and it is as though he has limited himself to choose to do whatever he does now through mankind. So much so that he uh chose to send his only son to suffer and die and to be a sacrifice for our sins and atone for our sins so that mankind could be redeemed and have relationship with him again. So if he didn't choose to sacrifice his son as just an example of how he's chosen to in some way limit himself to use mankind. So God's desire and plan is to use us, his people, to have the kingdom of God come here on earth as it would be in heaven. And who does that happen through? And his plan through Jesus and through through Jesus empowering us, right? So it is as though we're an extension cord, right? Going from the socket to the lamp that exists in the world to bring about the very thing that it needs to do what it was designed to do. Fair?

SPEAKER_03 14:10

Right.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

Pretty simple. All right, so on the the plug end where the electrical, you know, where the extension cord hits the wall, right?

SPEAKER_02 14:23

Right.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

What's happening there?

SPEAKER_03 14:30

Electricity flows.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

Okay. Electricity is in the socket and now comes into the plug, flows through the wire, if the extension cord's a good working extension cord, and then offers what was given on one end to be replicated on the other end. Fair? Right. So let's just talk about like a few of the attributes of God. We'll we'll pick something really simple, like the fruits of the spirit, right? What what's one of the fruits of the spirit?

SPEAKER_03 15:04

Love.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

Love, patience. Joy. Joy. Okay. So let's let's just say patience. That is an attribute, an aspect of who God is, he is patient, right? He's kind, he's loving. When what if what we're experiencing when we plug into him, would you say that we're going to experience love and patience and kindness as just examples? Yes. So if what is given on one end, what should be replicated on the other end?

SPEAKER_03 15:43

The same thing. Love, patience, kindness.

SPEAKER_00 15:47

Okay, so you're telling me that because I'm a Christian, that God loves me and is patient with me, and therefore I am going to be patient with everybody and in every situation of my life.

SPEAKER_03 16:07

Well, I mean, you could be, but is that the reality? Probably not 100% of the time.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

Okay. So when something was designed and created properly to do a certain thing, and then it doesn't do that, what what's going on?

SPEAKER_03 16:33

There must be a problem plugging in to the source.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

So this really is like this moment, really is like the description of the this biblical term goodness, right? Like a good fishing bait does what?

SPEAKER_03 16:53

Catches fish.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

It catches fish. Exactly. It was designed to catch fish. If it actually does what it was supposed to do, then it's a good bait. And I like good baits, right? An extension cord was designed to do what?

SPEAKER_03 17:10

Transmit power from one place to another.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

Extend power from one place to another. So when it does not do what it was designed to do, we would say it's broken or it's no longer good. Fair? When an extension cord's no longer good, what do you do with it?

SPEAKER_03 17:30

Throw it away.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

Throw it away, right? Well, we live on an island of misfit extension cords. Because of sin, right, we became spiritually dead, and no longer could replicate the very design and created person that we were intended to be. And so we have become short-circuited and became spiritually dead. But there's good news. Jesus loves coming onto our little island and picking up each cord, and very lovingly and very patiently and very kindly restoring broken, short-circuited cords back into being, functioning, life-giving, electricity flowing, things that they were created to be. And every one of us has short circuits and brokenness and things that hinder us from replicating the very thing that we could receive on one end to be the thing that is being offered on the other end. Fair. Again, like we said a couple weeks ago in our previous episode, you know, it's oftentimes in the tensions of our life that Jesus does the deepest works. And it's like in this tension of whatever conflict or whatever's going on in your life, may be the very place that Jesus is wanting to sit down with you and to bring about a healing and a reconciling and a reconstruction of where a wire is short-circuited or broken, and bring about a patch and a healing to that, so that what you and I were created to be and to do could happen again. That's good news.

SPEAKER_03 20:06

Would you believe that in my journey after the Lord impressed upon me that Shema spent some time in that, and then he led me to John 15 to abide, and I spent some time reading the Andrew Murray devotional. It's called Abide, which I would highly recommend.

SPEAKER_00 20:41

It's really Andrew Murray.

SPEAKER_03 20:43

Yeah. And this is totally what you're talking about. I'm gonna read just one verse from John 15 to verse 4. Remain in me as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself, but it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

So if you had to say abide was a part of the extension cord, which part of the extension cord would you associate it with?

SPEAKER_03 21:27

The part that goes, well, I mean, I guess you could choose different things, but probably the part that goes into the wall it's the power source.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

Right. I mean, if that part isn't plugged into the wall, then it's a lifeless cord, even if it even if there weren't broken places in the wire.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

Right.

SPEAKER_00 21:52

Right. So apart from me, you can do nothing without being plugged in. There's nothing, there's no electricity. There's no life that's going to flow through you. There's no spiritual life that's going to flow through you into the outlet side on the other end that would connect to the lamp. Fair?

SPEAKER_01 22:10

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

So the abide piece, I agree, is the part that connects to the outlet. Amy, did one of the truest things about who you are is that you were loved.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

It's true.

SPEAKER_03 22:32

It's true. You know, Daddy, Daddy chose my name because it means beloved. Like I've grown up and knowing with out it out. Like I was marked by the name beloved. Yeah, yeah, how about that? But the thing I've recognized kind of um having lived some life is not everybody's marked. Not everybody realizes and has it reinforced to them that they are marked as beloved. And so when I tell people, you know, like why I was named Amy or whatever, I kind of just go, but really everybody's named Amy.

SPEAKER_00 23:35

All right, just don't call me Amy. Yeah. I I think that, you know, and we did not plan this conversation. No. This is this is us winging it, which maybe I'm more comfortable doing. So but I think you segue very well to exactly what I wanted to point out, is that if if that's not part of what you understood or are receiving that truth, that the truest thing about you is that you were loved on the abide end, on the on the outlet end, what do you think how do you think that's going to be offered on the other end of who you are? The end that reaches out and replicates into whatever gets connected to it.

SPEAKER_03 24:25

I would even go one step backwards and say that what we think about God is probably the most important thing that we can think about. If we don't believe God is love, then that's the power source that's feeding into us. So it's very important what we think about God. If we just think he is powerful and holy, which he is those things, but if we don't also see how loving God is, I mean, when he defines himself, he defines himself as God is love. So it's very important that we can see God through that lens.

SPEAKER_00 25:35

100%. And and so I think when we start to dive into abiding, right? Like this is where so much of like so many people from my experience under understand conceptually that God is love and that God would love another person, right? But have not yet been able to fully tap into and receive that God loves them to the point that like they can begin to move to the point of understanding that God loves me so much. What is it about me that He wants to heal and to reconcile and to and to realign so that I can love me?

SPEAKER_03 26:26

I would say it's that is very true. There are a lot of lenses by which that's what people see. I also see a very common lens because you and I I live in different parts of the country, surrounded by different walls of people. And I'm in a very religious part of the country in the Bible out in the south, and I would say a very common lens that people say God is a very holy God that is like eternally disappointed in me, like I constantly do not live to his standard of righteousness. And so he's he's just eternally kind of disappointed in me. And if that's the lens by which I I you know see God, well then that that's gonna have not the right power flow either.

SPEAKER_00 27:45

Exactly. And this is where you know you and I've talked about this. I don't know that we have on the podcast, but you know, I grew up believing that, you know, God, like again, my misunderstanding of repentance, you know, led me to believe that God was just a judge. And, you know, everything that I did or did wrong, he was waiting to slap me on the wrist or the back of my hand. And so over time, I didn't do, you know, if I had sin in my life or something else, at some point I I didn't want to come to God because I was tired of feeling guilty or didn't understand that he was loving. And and so, you know, when that that view of who God is is the view in which I'm living life by, you know, what do you think is coming out the other end of in my relationships with other people? And so so much depends, so much of the health of my life and the health of what my experience in relationships with others is, depends on my right relationship and connection with God. Like if he loves me unconditionally and I'm so hard on myself that I can't even look at me and like me, then you know, there's something that needs to be rewired and redeemed. Like I tell guys that I'm discipling, you know, all the time. I was like, if you want to know what God's doing in the world, and we all want to be the people that God created us to be and join him in what he created us to do, right? If we want to know what God's doing, then just ask him the question, you know, what are you reconciling and redeeming right now? Because that's what he's doing. Like he's healing and reconciling and redeeming things. And so how can we just jump in and join him in that process? Whether that like last week, the you know, the person in the grocery store or the person you sit sitting next to at the soccer field or or your next door neighbor, like how can I just join you in what you're doing to love and be a vessel of love and care for this person the way that you care about this person, and listen for the short circuits and just join you in being a loving presence in that person's life and watch you do what only you can do. You don't have to be an expert at it, you just have to be willing to let God love through you, right?

SPEAKER_03 30:11

Right, and to use like some of the language we've been using, like if somebody is listening to this, and I feel that tension of oh my gosh, like that's I've been thinking about this wrong. I've been thinking about God wrong, or I've been thinking even about myself wrong, you know, or whatever that tension is, that is not there to shame you or to beat you up. That is like a holy invitation to go. Guess what? I've got something even better for you to think. 100% peace on repentance, like your mind can be changed, and I think that goes back to the Shema to love the Lord your God with all of your mind, and it that and that that changes us, it causes us to think differently and to to align our thinking with it. And it also it also reminds me of the rules of the game that love wins, that you know, it's not about expectation, it's not about did I do everything right? It is did I love, did I love God was I connected to him in love so that I could be filled with love and outpour with love back to him and to other people?

SPEAKER_00 32:07

So when you know that the truest thing about you is that God loves you, what do you think is gonna happen on the other end of your cord in relationship with other people? What do you think their expression of you is gonna be when they think about Amy?

SPEAKER_03 32:31

Well, they're gonna think loving, but honestly, I don't really think about what they think about me. I really my focus is that all of a sudden I'm so overwhelmed with how much God loves them. Yeah, I'm not even thinking about what they think about me.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

Right.

SPEAKER_03 32:52

I just like see them with different eyes and just love them, like you just can't help yourself.

SPEAKER_00 33:03

And that's right, and that's what comes from abiding, and that that's the point. Like if if uh you know, if I was asked, if I was interviewing them to describe what do you, what's one thing that you would say about Amy? Like if everything is working as it should, and what you're receiving is, you know, that you know that you know that you know, and you're receiving a love that God loves you, and you you're receiving that love, everything functions as it was designed, then the relationships that you that you're in, God's gonna empower you to be a loving vessel to people that you're in a relationship with that when they were describing you, the very first thing, most likely, that they're gonna say is, Oh my gosh, Amy is so loving, right? And is that because you're awesome? Or is that because God designed you perfectly to be a replication of who he is into the world, right? That is him loving through you and the zoe of love, that spiritual life of love flowing through you into the world, that naturally who they see you as is a loving person, and it's authentic. And it's John 13, you know, where Jesus says, you know, by this everyone will know that you are my disciples, that you love one another, right? And so it's the most natural thing that flows through us because it flows to us, right?

SPEAKER_03 34:38

And I think that uh I couldn't do this on my own. I think that's why uh uh it gave me the guardrails of the Shema because love kept me if the things I was learning and the things that I was applying to my life and walking out did not produce greater love for God or for other people, then they really were not of great value.

SPEAKER_00 35:18

Fair. And you know, we all have so much room to grow in this area, and so I think my point in just kind of starting with this point, I think we could have multiple episodes, and we'll probably refer back to the extension cord and a number of different things. Like I would call it extension cord theology. Like there is so much truth and so many principles of scripture that could be connected to, pun intended, this extension cord analogy. Like we're really only focused in the moment about some really basic pieces, but I'd love to talk about more later. But I don't want to get off topic of what we're talking about in the moment. Like, one of the primary things that I'd love for people to be able to hear in this conversation is like there is a natural flow of something being replicated on one end that was received on the other end. And maybe the reason that that the short circuit that it's not being replicated and that you're you know screaming at people when they cut you off in the in traffic, or you're you know, you're angry and you're impatient, or you're not being kind. Like the reason that things aren't as they could be on one end is maybe because there's not the reception of that on the plug end, right? On the receptacle. Right. And there's something that God wants to do lovingly, patiently, and in a kind way to sit with you and to rewire some things and to have you be able to receive in a way that maybe you haven't been able to before, because he loves to come and redeem those things that were broken. And I don't know what that means for whomever might be listening. I just know that this is what he loves to do most. And so when that happens, then there is this hope and reality that can come to the other end. That maybe it doesn't just take a lot of effort or discipline on my part to suddenly become patient. But when he's rewired some things on the receptacle end, that I find myself being empowered to be patient in ways that I never knew could be so natural before. And so I think just in a simple sense, one small aspect of how this uh extension cord analogy may fit is I'd love just to for people to be mindful of and asking of the Lord, okay, I realize, and I'll keep pick on the word patience, that I'm not as patient with others as you have been with me. Lord, is there something that you want to uh heal or redeem or reconcile? Because I can guarantee you there's a reason there's something that's happened, and there's a reason that that's not what's coming out on the extended end of your experience in relationship with other people. That God wants to meet you in a specific way to rewire something and have life flow again. Fair.

SPEAKER_03 38:39

Yeah, hey, I daughter Rachel, she has taught me so much. And one of the things I love that she does is if I tell her something affirming, she'll say, I'm just gonna receive that. She'll just sit there for a minute and she'll breathe deep and she'll just, you know, pause. And so I I think it would be good, you know, just to say to anybody out there that's listening, hey, God loves you, He is crazy about you. Just receive that.

SPEAKER_00 39:20

And where you recognize that what you're expressing into relationship with other people is something less than who God wants to be to them, patient, kind, gentle, yeah, right, then there's something that he wants to connect with in you. There's a hot spot that he wants to rewire. And you don't want yeah, there's a tension, and you don't want to miss that or anything.

SPEAKER_02 39:50

Right.

SPEAKER_00 39:51

That very thing is gonna be so life-giving as he touches it. Like this has nothing to do with correction. This has everything to do with invitation that Jesus has for each of us to come and be restored and renewed and watch him do this work. So we probably need to wrap this up, but thank you guys for listening. Just encourage you to ask the Lord to just kind of quicken your mind to something that is not aligned with him, and invite you to have a little moment of prayer with him, just to say, what is it, Lord, that you're wanting to do? How can I connect with you in a deeper way and have you bring about some healing and change in who I am? So you guys have a great week, and we'll plan to catch up more next week. Thanks for listening.

SPEAKER_02 40:41

And we love you guys. We don't even know you, but we love you.

SPEAKER_00 40:46

We know some of you.

SPEAKER_02 40:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 40:49

Bye bye.