Abide in Me… John 15:4
In the
matter of determination. The Spirit of Jesus is put into me by way of the
atonement by the Cross of Christ. I then have to build my thinking patiently to
bring it into perfect harmony with my Lord. God will not make me think like
Jesus— I have to do it myself. I have to bring “every thought into captivity to
the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). “Abide in Me”— in intellectual
matters, in money matters, in every one of the matters that make human life
what it is. Our lives are not made up of only one neatly confined area.
Am I
preventing God from doing things in my circumstances by saying that it will
only serve to hinder my fellowship with Him? How irrelevant and disrespectful
that is! It does not matter what my circumstances are. I can be as much assured
of abiding in Jesus in any one of them as I am in any prayer meeting. It is
unnecessary to change and arrange my circumstances myself. Our Lord’s inner
abiding was pure and unblemished. He was at home with God wherever His body
was. He never chose His own circumstances, but was meek, submitting to His
Father’s plans and directions for Him. Just think of how amazingly relaxed our
Lord’s life was! But we tend to keep God at a fever pitch in our lives. We have
none of the serenity of the life which is “hidden with Christ in God”
(Colossians 3:3).
Think of
the things that take you out of the position of abiding in Christ. You say,
“Yes, Lord, just a minute— I still have this to do. Yes, I will abide as soon
as this is finished, or as soon as this week is over. It will be all right,
Lord. I will abide then.” Get moving— begin to abide now. In the
initial stages it will be a continual effort to abide, but as you continue, it
will become so much a part of your life that you will abide in Him without any
conscious effort. Make the determination to abide in Jesus wherever you are now
or wherever you may be placed in the future.
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