Abide in Christ.
This simple statement holds such profound depth.
This week I finished reading Abide in Christ by Andrew Murray and I was freshly pressed by the rich reality we have IN Jesus.
Listen to a couple of his statements from the book …
As we abide daily in Jesus the Crucified One, however, we taste the sweetness of His love, the power of His life, the completeness of His salvation. So then, dear believer, embrace this deep mystery! Don’t be like those Christians who look at the cross from a distance—grateful for the sacrifice, yes, but unwilling to draw near, to taste the pain of HIs suffering for themselves. They hardly know He has invited them to it. … To be crucified with Christ is no triviality; it is the apex of our obedience to God. We surrender our self-will, reject the pleasures of the flesh that keep us from God. We separate ourselves from the ways of the world—the thinking and acting that following inevitably from a life given to sin. To lose your life and sacrifice your self-interest for the sake of others is the disposition that marks the person who has taken up Christ’s cross, the one who has said, “I abide in the crucified Christ.” (page 56-57)
Abide in Christ! Cling to Him, rest in Him, hope in Him. Renew your consecration daily, accepting yet again your glorious position as a child of God ransomed from sin and death. … Abide in Him; He has promised to abide in you. He will teach you humility and watchfulness, happiness and trust. Bring the interests of your life, your gifts, the thoughts, will, and feelings that make up the human experience, and trust Him to take the place you once so naturally ceded to the self. Jesus will dwell in you, take possession of you, and you will experience unceasing joy and the restfulness and peace and grace of the new life. (page 148)
Over the years, this word “abide” has come to be central in my life with Christ. My favorite definition of the Greek word menō (often translated as “abide” or “remain”) is “to refuse to depart.”
Do you know what it means to abide in Christ? It means refusing to leave Him. Never allowing anything to pull you from the life of Christ. Without Him you can do nothing (John 15:5), so why would we want to do anything but abide in Him?
May I encourage you as you head into a new week: abide in Christ! Or as Andrew Murray exhorted at the end of his book …
And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He comes, we can stand before Him unashamed, ready to abide in Him forever. (page 158)
Know I’m praying for you and cheering you on as you abide in Him!