(I'm reading Andrew Murray's Abide in Christ with some friends. I'll be posting my comments, and any of theirs, here.)
Andrew Murray writes: "There was a depth of meaning you cannot realize in [Jesus'] words: "Abide in Me." (11)
Do you ever read something you've read many times before, yet it seems new, almost as if you've never previously read it? That's my current and ongoing experience reading through and preaching through the four Gospels. The words of Jesus are being highlighted to me in new, deep ways. It's challenging. It's a lot of fun. As we at Redeemer are not planted in John chapters 14-17 the whole Jesus-secret of being "in" the Father is becoming new. God comes to make his home in us. That is... big. And very hope-filled.
When Jesus talked about the vine and the branches as the way of being closely connected to him, the connection "was not only to be unbroken, but most intimnate and complete... [Jesus] opened up all His divine fullness of life and love, and offered to take you up into its fellowship, to make you wholly one with Himself."
As Murray says, it's a good thing to come to Jesus. But it's far better to abide in Jesus. How can we do this? One suggestion, today, is this: repeat Jesus' command "Abide in me" "until it enter the heart and find a place there, no more to be forgotten or neglected." (12)
