In Him. Abiding In…Him.
It’s not something that ‘just happens’ or is ‘automatic’ after one gets baptized. But it really is ‘a thing’.
And let me try putting it this way for those who are still hearing ‘laws’ and commands’ along with ‘works’ and ‘legalisms’ by an angry God- We don’t ‘have’ to abide in Him. We get to abide in Him.
It really is an invitation by our most incredible and loving God, the creator of heaven and earth who loves us in ways that we cannot fathom.
When we fail to ‘see the big picture’, then so much of what religion and ‘other gospels’ offer up can muddy the waters and bring confusion, misunderstanding, hurt and pain. I have no doubt so many people today lay spiritually shipwrecked among the rocks because of the abuse and distortion of The gospel that we were warned would come in no short supply and lead many astray.
Can I tell you today that because God created you with a free will, He is not going to ‘make’ you do anything. You get to choose. And God always makes it clear from Genesis to Revelation when a choice lies before us. In the Garden of Eden, it was a very simple choice. “You can eat off any of these trees…just don’t eat off that one tree over there because IF you do…you will surely die. (Gen 2:16-17)
They made a bad choice and that ushered in so much death and darkness and pain and suffering into this world that God had created for us.
Yet, in His love for us, He did not give up on us and sought to still have relationship with us. But make no mistake about it, making the wrong choice changed things up in a big way, but not in such a way that God could not continue to be a part of our lives.
When God again was attempting to deliver and set His people free from the bondage of Egypt and Pharaoh, He gave His people choices. The first generation out of there did not fare well and most of them wandered and died out in the wilderness because of bad choices. ( Exodus & 1 Cor. 10: 1-11)
But once again God was ready to work with the next generation along with Joshua and Caleb. We read through the whole book of Deuteronomy where God lays out in great detail all that He has planned for them in this new promised land. He explains there are some evil nations that need to be dealt with and come off the land but that He will be the one doing it if they will just follow His instructions. He makes quite the case that IF they do comply and follow His leading, wonderful things await them . And of course, there are consequences for not making the right choices. I love the way it reads in Deut. 30:11-20…The Choice of Life or Death…and he says “I’m setting before you today life and death, blessings and cursing’ therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live…”. You really should go read that passage and underline those verses that make this so clear.
As Paul makes it known in 1 Cor. 10:4-11, all these things were written down for our example and warnings.
From the first day that Jesus came to a people sitting in darkness, His message never changed…’repent…and follow Me’.
That ‘follow’ thing…is the invitation to ‘abide’- to continue and remain in/with Him. As I mentioned at the start here, it is not something that is ‘automatic’ or happens by osmosis nor is it just poetic language to make us feel good. It is something we Do. We follow.
That guy in Matt. 7:21-23 I often cite here who was busy doing so many wonderful things for God in the name of Jesus…was floored when he was told by God to depart from him….because he continued to practice sin. But listen to this phrase Jesus told him that often goes unnoticed: “I never knew you.” (23)
Now catch this where Jesus taught in John 10:27: “My sheep hear My voice,…and I know them, and they ….follow Me.”
They do what? They…follow. Let that sink in for a moment. Do you think it’s possible that we have been asking the wrong question in our evangelistic tactics…instead of asking people if ‘they know Jesus’….maybe we need to be asking ‘Does Jesus know them?’ And perhaps that question needs to be first directed to us who ‘profess to know Him’ with our lips…(Tit 1:16). When I first began to give this some thought, I was directed to a passage in Galatians I had never seen before where Paul kind of ‘corrects’ himself midstream. Go look at this in 4:9 where he writes “But now after you have known God, OR RATHER ARE KNOWN BY GOD…’
Isn’t that interesting?
So going back to that passage in John…Jesus explains quite clearly…that His sheep: hear His voice…He knows them…and they follow. You’ve probably heard at one time or another a lesson on how shepherds lead sheep as opposed to driving them from behind like a cattleman rancher might do with his heard. The sheep know the voice of their shepherd, they trust him and they follow.
That beloved Psalm 23 we all love and know and recite …The Lord is my shepherd…look at vs. 2-3 where it says “He leads me beside the still waters…He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness. Did you catch that part about Him ‘leading’? There it is again…and that suggest that we as His sheep do what….? Follow, perhaps? :- )
Hey…you want to know one prayer that will never go unanswered by God? I will tell you but it comes with a warning…don’t pray this unless you are serious about it. It’s in Psalm 139 where the writer pens this prayer request: Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting. (23-24)
You do know there are ‘wicked ways’ that reside in all of us before we repent and turn our lives over to God. That’s why we have been in darkness and separated from God. But He came to set us free…to cleanse us and restore us and make us new again and he begins with our hearts and will. And you see in that prayer once again this idea of being ‘lead’…which implies that we…follow. It’s a choice. Always has been…always will be.
If you trust Him…and follow Him…you’ll do what He ask. (John 14:15). But here’s a reminder…if you want this to ‘work’, you have to come to Him with all your heart. It won’t work any other way. Trust me. I’ve tried over the years. It’s one thing to ‘say’ you love God with ALL your heart but as that psalmist prayed, ‘try me’ is a thing as well. God will test your heart.
Let me just leave you with a personal example of what I have discovered as I have learned all over what ‘abiding’ in Him is like. First of all, I find myself just walking in peace in a way I’ve never known to this degree. I’ve had moments or brief seasons in the past but it never seemed to be sustained or last and I just never knew why. But I do now. There is also an inner joy and freedom that comes from ‘being in His presence’. That is scriptural as well.
Yet, the thing that stands out to me the most that has been a game changer is this: On any given day in any given situation…I hear His voice that seems to give me a ‘heads up’ or warning when a ‘test’ may be around the corner. I’ve often said that ‘abiding’ is much like a new sense of ‘awareness’ of Him. I can be in a conversation and just know that something I was about to say…the Holy Spirit whispers “that was not from me…steer away from making that comment’ or ‘don’t respond this way and take the bait’. I can’t tell you how many conflicts and problems I have avoided by just learning to heed His voice in so many ‘little things’. And the more I put into practice this ‘heeding His word’, the clearer His voice becomes. It is the most remarkable thing to me.
If He says to ‘lay this aside’….which can be an attitude, or a practice, or whatever,... because I love Him more than anything else in this world or in my life, it’s not hard or burdensome. Did Jesus not say that ‘His yoke was easy’…but the way of the ‘transgressor is hard’. Yeah…it’s true. Maybe this is what ‘total surrender’ is. Maybe this is what the ‘true sabbath’ is…when we enter in to His rest and cease from “our labors”.
More tomorrow. I got grandsons to look after. ;-)
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