The fourth word that comes from Christ to further us on to more abundant life is,
“Abide In Me”
“Abide in me.” (John 15:4) This is the deepest and closest experience the soul can find with Jesus. There are no words to fully define it. We are told that it means sinlessness of life (I John 3:6). There is no sin in the life of those abiding in Christ. We are told that to abide in Christ is to bring forth much fruit. This fruit glorifies God. What wonderful possibilities has a child of God. It comes by abiding in Jesus. Then we are told that we can do nothing except we abide in Him. How utterly helpless we are! Then we must give Him the glory for all He helps us do. When you are abiding in Him it is His life springing up in your life that enables you to do all you do. It is not your life, but His life. But you must be dead, so dead that you can do nothing, and cease trying to do anything and let Christ live in you.
If we abide in Him, and His words abide in us we shall have whatsoever we ask of Him (John 15:7). If we are failing to get what we ask, there is something amiss somewhere. It is possible to think we are abiding in Him when we are not. It is possible to think His words are abiding in us when they are not. In this abiding there is no dependence on self or earthly things. To trust in man or in any way make flesh your arm hinders the work of Christ in your behalf. There must be utter abandonment of all to God; a perfect renunciation of self; a concentration of all your powers in Christ’s service, and every expectation from Him. Christ is real in such a life. He is real as life. We are conscious of His presence and of His power. We naturally, in our dependence, look to Him for help in all the details of life. We are conscious of arising to the duties of the day in His strength rather than our own. It is blessed. If you have lost an article, you ask His help to find it, and He does. If you need a penny, a dime, a dollar, you ask Him for it, and He gives it. This all comes about as natural as life when you are abiding according to John 15:7. You move and live and act in conscious dependence upon Him, and in full expectation of His help. Such an atmosphere surrounds you.
In this abiding the Holy Spirit has brought the human life through the human spirit in contact with the life of God through Christ so that that life is constantly springing up in the human life, and begets an unceasing prayer. Prayer is suggested by the words of John 15:7. “Ye shall ask.” There is a constant acting of the human life on the life of Christ; it is drinking it in; feeding upon it as the child feeding at its mother’s breast. The inflowing of the life of Jesus is constant and makes life a constant prayer. As the little flower drinks in the dew and the rays of the sun, so the human life drinks in the life of Jesus and takes on all its beauty and strength.
But when we come to John 15:10, all we can do is to sit and marvel. We hesitate to begin to express our thoughts. When we keep Christ’s commandments even as He kept His Father’s commandments, then we shall abide in His love even as He abode in His Father’s love. In this experience the soul is weaned from every earthly thing. The words of Colossians 3:2-3 have become a glorious, conscious reality in all their beauty and power. Nothing is loved that is not loved in God. Nothing is done that is not done in God. Natural love is not destroyed, but it is purified. All things have become pure. The mother loves her child, and the husband loves his wife with more than a natural love. It is the sweetest and highest form of love. Such a one “walks in love as Christ also hath loved us.” (Ephesians 5:2) Father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife, houses, lands, foods, clothing, all are loved in God. We are unable to explain this love. It is far more intense than mere human or natural love. It does rob the natural love of its fleshliness so that it may appear to the flesh as having something of a coldness. However, it is not coldness, but only robbed of the fire of fleshliness. It looks on everything with a something of unconcern—house, lands, relatives, friends, and says, “Lord, thy will be done with all these.” It may seem cold and heartless, but it is heaven’s purest love. Jesus said, “Woman, what have I to do with thee?” (John 2:4) These words sound cold and almost heartless to a fond mother. They teach us something of the nature of heaven’s pure love. When dying on the cross He called His mother, “Woman.” (John 19:26) He spoke of her as John’s mother, but not one time does He ever call her “mother.” He lived in consideration of a higher relationship. Things after the flesh were of small moment to Him. There is a certain emotional spooning fondness that partakes more of the flesh than of the spirit.
Abiding in Christ forbids trusting in anything but Christ. “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.” (Psalm 20:7) “Chariots” and “horses” here stand for all earthly reliances. “Woe unto them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots.” (Isaiah 31:1) It is a woe. It loosens from Christ. It is the god of this world that blinds the soul so that it cannot perceive what it means to be free from relying on any and every earthly thing.
The abiding soul is a praying soul. In all abiding in Jesus there is a constant action of the soul, and this action is prayer. He who abides prays, and he who prays abides, but we can not have the one without the other. The soul that prays, really prays, abides in a state of quietness, reposes on the bosom of God, and knows no fear, save the fear of God. The slightest reliance upon any earthly thing, or the fear of any earthly thing or circumstance clogs the flow of the life of Christ. Christian freedom is to be in bondage to nothing earthly.
Prayer, to be prayer, must be untinctured by self-love. Self-love clips the wings of prayer so that it cannot ascend to God.
Abiding in Christ deepens the soul’s union with Christ. It makes communion more intimate and joyful. It makes Jesus more real in life. It keeps the body, soul, and spirit in a higher state of sanctification and blamelessness. It clears the soul’s vision so it can look out upon the glorious realities of the spiritual world.
Abiding in Jesus loosens the hold of all earthly interests upon the affections and centers the heart upon God. It brings God very near. It strengthens the will to go out upon the battlefields of life in the full assurance of victory. It teaches the soul to walk softly before God, and to hold as a treasure every token of His love. It puts force and vigor in the inward life that enables us to walk with God through the shadows without a fear.
By abiding in Christ we are ever plodding on in the evenness of life. Whether our pathway leads through green pastures and is strewn by roses, or through the valleys and over stony places, we are ever tranquil and go singing on our way. Abiding in Christ warms the heart with love and sincere devotion. It saves the hearts from coldness.
Again, to abide in Jesus infuses into the soul a sense of holy fear, and makes all our acts in life acts of worship to God. It keeps self-love and creature-love out of the heart, and gives us visions of God, and enables us to cry, “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.” (Isaiah 6:3) Come to Christ daily. Learn of Him daily. Follow Him daily. Abide in Him constantly.