Trusting Him to Keep You
Trusting Him to Keep You
It is a sacred duty and a blessed privilege to abide in Christ but, for the large majority of disciples, whose lives are so fully occupied with the affairs of this life, it can scarcely be expected.
The abiding in Christ is meant only for the weak and feeble. It does not demand the doing of some great thing or that we first lead a holy and devoted life. No, it is simply weekness entrusting itself to a Mighty One to be kept.
Abiding in Him is not a work that we have to do as the condition for enjoying His salvation, but a consenting to let Him do all for us, in us, and through us. It is a work He does for us: the fruit and the power of His redeeming love.
It is this quiet expectation and confidence, resting on the word of Christ that in Him there is an abiding place prepared, that is so sadly lacking among Christians.
As it was Jesus who drew you when He spoke , "Come", so it is Jesus who keeps you when He said, "Abide." The grace to come and the grace to abide are from Him alone.
Let the soul but take the time to listen to the voice of Jesus. "In me," He said, "is your place, in My almighty arms. It is I who love you so, who speaks 'Abide in me'; surely you can trust Me."
Think of this until all feeling of burden and fear and despair pass away, and the first thought that comes when you hear of abiding in Jesus is one of bright and joyous hope.
Our doing and working are but the fruit of Christ's work in us. It is when the soul becomes utterly passive, looking and resting on what Christ is to do, that its energies are stirred to their highest activity, and we work most effectively because we know that He works in us.
Fix your eyes on that for which He has apprehended you. It is nothing less than a life of abiding, unbroken fellowship with Himself to which He is seeking to lift you up.
All that you have already received, pardon and peace, the Spirit and His grace, are but preliminary to this. And all that you see promised to you in the future, holiness and fruitfulness and glory everlasting, are but its natural outcome.
Fix your eyes on this, and gaze until it stands out before you clear and unmistakable: Christ's aim is to have me abiding in Him. Unto this "I am apprehended of Christ."
Fix your eyes on Christ. Gaze on the love that beams in those eyes and asks whether you cannot trust Him, who sought and found and brought you near, now to keep you.
"O my Jesus, if you bid me, and if You engage to lift and keep me there, I will venture. Trembling, but trusting, I will say, Jesus, I do abide in You." - A. Murray