“Abide”
“Abide in me, and I in you.” (John 15:4)
This is the deepest and closest experience the soul can find with Jesus. There are no words to fully define it. To abide in Christ is to have a life free from sin (1 John 3:6). To abide in Christ is to bring forth much fruit (John 15:5)—such fruit that glorifies God. What wonderful possibilities a child of God has by abiding in Jesus! We also learn that we can do nothing unless we abide in Him. How utterly helpless we are! Then we must give Him the glory for all He helps us do. When we are abiding in Him, it is His life springing up in our life that enables us to do all we do. It is not our life, but His life. But we must be dead—so dead that we can do nothing, and cease trying to do anything—and let Christ live in us.
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 to in any way make flesh our arm hinders the work of Christ in our behalf. There must be an utter abandonment of all to God; a perfect renunciation of self; a concentration of all our powers in Christ’s service, and every expectation from Him. Christ is real in such a life; He is as real as life. We are conscious of His presence and of His power. In our dependence, we naturally 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 a blessed way to live. If you have lost something, 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 through the human spirit brought the human life in contact with the life of God through Christ, so that His 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.” The human life is constantly drinking in the life of Christ, feeding upon it as the child feeds at its mother’s breast. The constant inflowing of the life of Jesus 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.
We now come to John 15:10: “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” 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. “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” 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, for 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 “walk[s] in love, as Christ also hath loved us.” (Ephesians 5:2) Father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife, houses, lands, food, clothing—all are loved in God. We are unable to explain this love. It is far more intense than mere natural human love. It does rob the natural love of its fleshliness, and so to the flesh it may appear 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.” To those who cannot see the heavenly realities, it may seem cold and heartless, but it is heaven’s purest love. Jesus said to His mother, “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. In light of this, the things of the flesh were of small concern to Him. Be alert to that sort of sentimental 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) We avoid relying on worldly means of security. “Woe unto them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots.” (Isaiah 31:1) It is a grave danger, for it loosens us from Christ. The god of this world 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, for we cannot have the one without the other. The soul that prays, really prays, abides in a state of quietness, reposing on the bosom of God, and knows no fear, save the fear of God. The slightest reliance upon any earthly thing, or fear of any earthly circumstance, will clog the flow of the life of Christ. Christian freedom is being unbound by anything earthly. And prayer, to be pure prayer, must be untainted 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, which enables us to walk with God through the shadows without a fear.
By abiding in Christ we are ever plodding onward evenly through 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. For though wild winds may make the waves to rise and fall upon the surface of the sea, yet the great depths remain undisturbed. Just so, though outward circumstances may unsettle our emotions, yet in the depths of our spirit we may remain at rest with Christ.
Abiding in Christ keeps the heart from coldness by the warmth of love and sincere devotion. Again, to abide in Jesus infuses the soul with a sense of holy fear, and makes every act in life an act of worship to God. It keeps self-love and creature-love out of the heart, and gives us visions of God, enabling 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 always.