Bitter and Sweet

We've tasted the bitterness of family sorrows, of strained relationships, of financial ruin.  We know what it is to suffer under the pain of sin's consequence.

We've tasted the sweetness of full assurance in Christ, of knowing that heaven awaits, of sensing the peace that passes understanding and the joy that never ends.

James Smith, a Puritan writer, says it so much better than I ever could.  Go here and read!

And may God bless you on your journey today.

Abiding in Christ - Day 26 - Showing Love to Fellow Believers

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ~John 15:12
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. ~John 15:9 

THE LOVE THAT FILLS HEAVEN AND ETERNITY

IS TO BE SEEN DAILY HERE

IN THE LIFE OF EARTH AND TIME.

~Andrew Murray

Jesus gave His disciples a new commandment, the great evidence of the reality of the new covenant, the one convincing and indisputable token of discipleship:  LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” ~John 13:34;:35

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. ~John 17:21-23 

Jesus lived this life of love perfectly.  Look at His life.  It was one of

• self-abasement
• self-sacrifice
• love to the unworthy
• love to the ungrateful
• humble Servanthood
• giving Himself to death on a cross

Believers who gaze at Christ and live in Him are witnesses to the incredible Love that gave itself to die.  He is our example, and He wants us to love like He did.

"Christians are to prove that love has made them members of one body and of one another, and has taught them each to forget and to sacrifice self for the sake of the other."                          ~Andrew Murray, p. 159, Abiding in Christ

God brings into our lives the exact people that we are to love.  Do you have a difficult husband, and impossible child, an immoral relative, a nasty neighbour?  God has placed that person within your sphere of influence for His good purposes.

If you love God, you'll love others.

"Love to fellow believers is the flower and fruit of the root, unseen in the heart, of love to God."

We are in the School of Love

We live with a bunch of self-centered sinners if we live in an ordinary family.  This is where the Lord teaches us how to love the unlovable.  In interaction with a demanding toddler or hormonal youth, we are being trained to love.  This training expands to our being strengthened to love those who are as yet outside of Christ, not just with things you can agree on (like the weather or politics), but with a holy love that bears with the most disagreeable for Jesus' sake.

Study Jesus.  How did He love?

• forgiveness 70 times 7; He even forgave those who crucified Him.
• unwearied patience; He taught His disciples by example and word.
• infinite humility; He left His exalted position to be a Humble Servant.

How do you feel about this glorious calling to love like Christ?

Does your heart leap at this unspeakable privilege of showing the likeness of eternal love to others?  Or do you sigh at the thought that you will never be able to demonstrate love the way our Saviour did?

The truth is, you can't do it.  Not in your own strength.  

Yet you are commanded to love like Christ.

The only way to do so is to fully abide in Him.  As you do so, you will love others with a love that is not your own.  Jesus' love will shine through you.  He can make you gentle and patient.  He can keep a watch over your lips so that every word that proceeds from your mouth is uplifting and kind.  He can give you a gentle spirit that refuses to take offense and is always willing to believe the best of others.

"Let the love that seeks not its own, but is always ready to wash others' feet, or even to give its life for them, be our aim as we abide in Jesus.  Let our life be one of self-sacrifice, always studying the welfare of others, finding our highest joy in blessing others.  And let us, in studying the divine art of doing good, yield ourselves as obedient learners to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  By His grace, the most commonplace life can be transformed with the brightness of heavenly beauty, as the infinite love of the divine nature shines out through our frail humanity."~Andrew Murray, Abiding in Christ, p. 161

Love one another, as I have loved you. 

Real Prayer

"Real prayer has eyes on Christ, not the crisis."
                                          
                                           ~Ann Voskamp


Ann has written a gem about prayer.  Go and read it.

Ann writes, "I don’t know how God hears the wail of the woman howling raw for that one man to come love her right. The ache of the daughter rejected by the icy parent. The choking breath of the man crushed hard by a weight of debt."

The truth is that it is a hard road to travel, this road that the Lord leads us down.  In the middle of the crisis, He teaches us that He never fails, not even when the answer to our begging is NO.  


I have "howled raw" for those I love.  I know what it is to be rejected and crushed.  


But this I know, too:  My Saviour never fails me.  He never falters.  He is always, always faithful.


Keep your eyes on Christ, Beloved, no matter what crisis you are enduring.  


Real prayer has eyes on Christ, not the crisis.

Abiding in Christ - Day 25 - That Your Joy May Be Full

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.~John 15:11 

There is exquisite and overflowing happiness to be found in Christ.  Is this your experience?

. . . for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” ~Nehemiah 8:10

This is the daily, hourly, moment-by-moment experience of a believer who is truly abiding in Christ.

His Own Joy

"that My joy may remain in you..."

Because of the resurrection we have never-ceasing joy - the joy of a work fully completed by our Saviour, so that we can rejoice in the Father's presence, and rejoice in the souls redeemed by the grace of our God.  We are now partakers of the Joy of Christ.


But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in *triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.~2 Corinthians 2:14

* a reference to the lavish victory parades celebrated in Rome after great battles. God is depicted as the sovereign victor, with Christ as the general, leading the victory procession, and Paul as “captured” by Christ but now joyfully following him.

We are in a triumphal procession!  Look backward, and see the work He has done!  Look upward, and see the reward He has for us!  We are partakers in His joy, in His work, in His glory!

"With our feet on Calvary, our eyes on the Father's face, and our hands helping sinners home, we have His joy as our own." ~Andrew Murray, Abiding in Christ, p. 153

Abiding Joy

"that My joy may remain in you..."

This abiding joy remains, never to cease, never interrupted.

If you think the Christian life is a succession of changes, sometimes joy, sometimes sorrow, you do not understand the unceasing joy that is yours in Christ.  Paul understood this.  The Christian life is a paradox - the combination at one and the same moment of all the bitterness of earth and all the joy of heaven!

Paul writes,

through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything. ~ 2 Corinthians 6:8-10

Andrew Murray explains,

These precious words teach us how the joy of Christ can overrule the sorrow of the world, can make us sing even while we weep, and can maintain in the heart, even when cast down by disappointment or difficulties, a deep consciousness of a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory.~ Andrew Murray, Abiding in Christ, p.153.

The presence of Jesus cannot help but bring JOY!

Full Joy

Answered prayer is a token

• of fellowship with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
• of  God's delight in us as beloved children
• of God's care and concern for us

Look with eyes of faith, and see Jesus, the Great High Priest, entering the Father's presence for us, praying for us, working in us.

John 15 - shows the full joy of abiding in Christ
John 16 - shows the full joy of prevailing prayer
John 17 - shows the full joy of knowing that LOVE pleads for me

Life in Christ

This life is not a life of self-denial and sadness - that is a result of NOT abiding.  No, life in Christ is full of JOY.  The difficulties all arise from our refusal to surrender.

To those who finally yield themselves unreservedly to abide in Christ for a bright and blessed life, their faith comes true - the joy of the Lord is theirs.~Andrew Murray, Abiding in Christ, p. 155.

Are you experiencing joy in the midst of sorrow?  Are you experiencing joy in the midst of pain?  This life of joy can be yours, as you learn to fully abide in Christ, surrendering to His will and resting in His care.

. . .that your joy may be full!

Abiding in Christ - Day 24 - Obeying His Commandments

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 15:10 ESV

Works are an interesting thing.  The human condition is that we take pride in our good works, and we love to be praised for the things we do well, and acknowledged as someone who DOES.   Yet the Bible tells us that all of our works are useless - our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.~ John 3:19

When the sinner contemplates his life, he often thinks..."Look at what I've done.  I'm a good person.  I don't lie or cheat.  I've never murdered anyone.  I'm a great parent, a loving child, a good boss, a great employee."  Yet the gospel states clearly, NOT BY WORKS.

yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. ~Galatians 2:16


For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” ~Galatians 3:10

. . . he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, ~Titus 3:5

Sinners are without hope, because they cannot keep the commandments.  The Bible teaches us that we must obey God in all things, and it also teaches us that we cannot do so in our own strength.  But this is precisely what the sinner attempts to do.  "I'll live a clean life.  I'll do all sorts of good things."  Just a simple contemplation of one's thought life (never mind one's deeds) reveals that he cannot keep the commandments.

So, works are a great hindrance to the sinner.  He must come to Christ, who did live a perfect life and die the death he deserved, paying the price for sin and opening the way to the Father.  That is the gospel.

Conversely, to the Believer, works are a blessing and a strength.  By works, faith is made perfect.  By works, the union with Christ is cemented, and the soul is established and more deeply rooted in the love of God. (see James 2).   

When a believer learns what it is to abide in Christ, he begins to think, to feel, to will what Jesus thought, felt and willed.  His desire is to be holy like Jesus.  

"To live the life of Christ means to him to be delivered from the life of self; the will of Christ is to him the only path of liberty from the slavery of his own self-will." ~p.146, Abiding in Christ, Chapter 24. (Go here to read online.)

There is no true fellowship with God without delight in His will.  As a believer matures and grows in grace, he begins to see the commandments of God as just as precious as His promises.  Oh, how love I thy law... it is my meditation all the day!

Not Just a Fire Escape

If salvation is just a way of personal safety, an escape from future judgment and the everlasting fire of hell, a sinner can be nonchalant about obedience.  "I'm saved...so I can live the way I want to."  If he has that attitude, he ought to examine his "salvation" more closely, because he is in great danger.

True Salvation is Restoration

The true meaning of salvation is a restoration to communion with GOD.  The God who created the universe and walked with our first parents in the Garden desires to walk with His children, even today.  That communion is restored by saving faith in the Son.  True salvation also means the conformity of the sinner to Christ... we are made Christ-like as we abide in His love.

Christ was Obedient

Christ Himself, in order to abide in His Father's love, was obedient.  In the life He led on earth, obedience was a solemn reality.

"The dark and awful power that led humankind to revolt from God tempted Him too.  To Him, as with all men, its offers of self-gratification were not matters of indifference; to refuse them, He had to fast and pray.  He suffered, being tempted.  He spoke very distinctly of not seeking to do His own will.  This was a surrender He had to make continually.  He made the keeping of the Father's commandments the distinct object of His life, and so did He abide in His love.  He plainly tells us, "I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father has taught Me, I speak these things.  And He who sent Me is with Me.  The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him." (John 8:28-29)." ~Abiding in Christ, p.147

Sign of a Spiritual Life

Keeping His commandments is a sure sign of the life He inspires.  If we love God and abide in Him, we'll be obedient.

Keep His Commandments

• Study the Word to understand the Lord's will
• Meditate on His precepts
• Pray fervently to discover every sin
• Mortify the flesh - yield yourself in complete surrender to obey all that the Lord has said

Be careful about disobedience, even in the little things.

Disobedience

• dulls the conscience
• darkens the soul
• deadens our spiritual energies

You are a soldier of Christ.  Ask for nothing but the orders of your Commander.  Each new surrender and sacrifice will lead you to a deeper union with your Saviour.  If you keep His commandments, you will abide in Him, just as He kept the Father's commandments and lived abiding in His love.

Blessings of This Day of Rest

1. Studying Genesis with the Family
2. Praying together
3. Lunch made by daughter
4. Supper made by daughter
5. Floor cleaned by son
6. Sunshine
7. Wood stove
8. Fluffy White Dog
9. Fancy new phone
10. Shoulder and neck massage

It's the little things that make a house a home, and a bunch of related sinners a family.  We had a restful day today.  Such a blessing when the days seem to pile one on top of the other with unrelenting pressure.  

Contentment

Instead of complaining at his lot, a contented man is thankful that his condition and circumstances are no worse than they are. Instead of greedily desiring something more than the supply of his present need, he rejoices that God still cares for him. Such an one is "content" with such as he has (Heb. 13:5). —Arthur W. Pink

Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God's wise and fatherly disposal in every condition. —Jeremiah Burroughs

Limitless

Take a minute, and listen to this Grace Gem.

Someone I love very much has told me that to consider how much Jesus loves me seems to be a bit man-centered.  In my opinion, it highlights the grace of God.  How can a God of infinite majesty and perfection love a person like me without limit and without measure?  Only by His grace.

That's why it's been called "Amazing".  God's grace is astonishing, unfathomable, incomprehensible.  It's hard for us to love the people we most love in this world.  Someone disappoints us, and we lash out.  Someone cheats us, and we seek vengeance.  We like movies that show the victim getting back at the offender, because there's a sense of justice fulfilled when we see vengeance take place.

The reason we have a sense of justice is that we've been created in the image of God, and He is just.  He will exact vengeance on His enemies, don't doubt that for a minute.  Yet, out of His infinite wisdom, He has chosen to turn some of His enemies into His friends.  He has chosen to invite some into His family to be adopted as Sons and Daughters of the King.  Not because any were good enough, or deserved a place in the Family of God, but by His Amazing Grace.

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. ~Titus 3:3; But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. ~ Titus 3:4-7 ESV

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,

He sendeth more strength when the labors increase,

To added affliction He addeth His mercy,

To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,

His power no boundary known unto men,

For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,

He giveth and giveth and giveth again.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,

When our strength has failed ere the day is half-done,

When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,

Our Father's full giving is only begun.

Questions

Good Questions to Ponder (From Vintage Jesus)

1. What am I most afraid of?

2. What do I long for most passionately?

3. Where do I run for comfort?

4. What do I complain about the most?

5. What angers me most?

6. What makes me happiest?

7. How do I explain myself to other people?

8. What has caused me to be angry with God?

9. What do I brag about?

10. What do I want to have more than anything else?

11. What do I sacrifice the most for in my life?

12. If I could change one thing in my life what would that be?

13. Whose approval am I seeking?

14. What do I want to control/master?

15. What comfort do I treasure the most?

He is Exalted

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!