Abide as Christ Abides in the Father - Day 23

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.(John 15:9-10 ESV)

Imagine how confused the disciples of Christ must have been as they thought about abiding in Him, then began  to take in His statement that He was going to die.  How would they be able to abide in Him if He were gone away?  He gave them His life as an example - the example of His abiding in the Father.

Jesus' life in the Father is the law of their life in Him!

As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.(John 6:57 ESV)

  that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:21; John 17:22-26 ESV)

Jesus' abiding in the Father was possible because they were ONE - one in life, and one in love.

"Though dwelling here on earth, He knew that He was one with the Father, that the Father's life was in Him, and His love on Him.  Without this knowledge, abiding in the Father and His love would have been utterly impossible for Christ."~ Abiding in Christ, Andrew Murray p.140

We, too, must keep this knowledge at the forefront of our minds.

"Know that you are one with Him-one in the unity of nature. By His birth He became man and took on your nature so that He might be one with you. By your new birth you become one with Him and are made partaker of His divine nature."~ Abiding in Christ, Andrew Murray p.140

THIS IS THE UNION OF A DIVINE LIFE.

"In His life of humiliation on earth He tasted the blessing and strength of knowing Himself to be the object of an infinite love, and He dwelt in it all through His days."~  Andrew Murray p.140

IN THIS THE SECRET OF REST AND JOY IS FOUND.

Believer, you are One with Him. Yield yourself to be loved by Jesus. Abide in His love.

"I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love." -John 15:10

Jesus lived a life of subjection and dependence, yet was most blessed!

Dependence, subjection, and self-sacrifice are the blessed path of life. Jesus was not afraid of losing anything by giving up all to the Father. He knows the Father loves Him and has His best interest at heart. As He completely depends on the Father and submits to His will, He knows the Father will share all He possesses with His beloved Son.

This is the pattern of a life in Christ.

Without Me you can do nothing.~ John 15:5 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:15

We learn to glory in weakness, to delight in hardships, for

"When I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:10

"The apostle Paul rises above the ordinary tone in which so many Christians speak of their weakness.  They are seemingly content to merely tolerate their state, while Paul sees much more; he has learned from Christ that in the life of divine love the emptying of self and the sacrifice of our will is the surest way to have all we could wish or want." ~Abiding in Christ, Andrew Murray, p. 141

DEPENDENCE, SUBJECTION AND SELF-SACRIFICE 

THIS IS THE BLESSED PATH OF 

LIFE IN CHRIST.

Glory.

Jesus gave Himself wholly to the Father's will, and the Father crowned Him with glory and honour.

In the same way, as we trust ourselves and out interests to His love, caring only for His will and honour, exercising absolute dependence on Him in all things, He will do for us what His Father did for Him!

To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
(2 Thessalonians 1:11, 12 ESV)

By His grace, He  

• acknowledges us as His representatives
• entrusts us with His power 
• admits us to His counsels
• allows our intercession to influence His church and world
• makes us the vehicles of His authority

How can you really understand and appropriate into your life the fact that you will abide in the love of Christ in the same way Christ lived in His Father?

Be quiet before God. Gaze upon Christ's life in the Father.  Be still and listen.

Christ was the revelation of the Father on earth.

Believers are the revelation of Christ on earth. 

Amen!