ABIDE
Abide in Me, and I in You--John 15:4
When a new graft is placed in a vine and it
abides there, there is a twofold process that takes place. The first is in the
wood. The graft shoots its little roots and fibers down into the stem, and the
stem grows up into the graft, and what has been called the structural union is
effected. The graft abides and becomes one with the vine, and even though the
vine were to die, would still be one wood with it. Then there is the second
process, in which the sap of the vine enters the new structure, and uses it as
a passage through which sap can flow up to show itself in young shoots and
leaves and fruit. Here is the vital union. Into the graft which abides in the
stock, the stock enters with sap to abide in it.
When our Lord says: "Abide in me, and I in you,"
He points to something analogous to this. "Abide in me": that refers more to
that which we have to do. We have to trust and obey, to detach ourselves from
all else, to reach out after Him and cling to Him, to sink ourselves into Him.
As we do this, through the grace He gives, a character is formed, and a heart
prepared for the fuller experience: "I in you," God strengthens us with might
by the Spirit in the inner man, and Christ dwells in the heart by faith.
Many believers pray and long very earnestly for
the filling of the Spirit and the indwelling of Christ, and wonder that they do
not make more progress. The reason is often this, the "I in you" cannot come
because the "abide in me" is not maintained. "There is one body and one
spirit"; before the Spirit can fill, there must be a body prepared. The graft
must have grown into the stem, and be abiding in it before the sap can flow
through to bring forth fruit. It is as in lowly obedience we follow Christ,
even in external things, denying ourselves, forsaking the world, and even in
the body seeking to be conformable to Him, as we thus seek to abide in Him,
that we shall be able to receive and enjoy the "I in you." The work enjoined on
us: "Abide in me," will prepare us for the work undertaken by Him: "I in
you."
In--The two parts of the injunction have their
unity in that central deep-meaning word "in." There is no deeper word in
Scripture. God is in all. God dwells in Christ. Christ lives in God. We are in
Christ. Christ is in us: our life taken up into His; His life received into
ours; in a divine reality that words cannot express, we are in Him and He in
us. And the words, "Abide in me and I in you," just tell us to believe it, this
divine mystery, and to count upon our God the Husbandman, and Christ the Vine,
to make it divinely true. No thinking or teaching or praying can grasp it; it
is a divine mystery of love. As little as we can effect the union can we
understand it. Let us just look upon this infinite, divine, omnipotent Vine
loving us, holding us, working in us. Let us in the faith of His working abide
and rest in Him, ever turning heart and hope to Him alone. And let us count
upon Him to fulfill in us the mystery: "Ye in me, and I in you."
Blessed Lord, Thou dost bid me abide in Thee. How
can I, Lord, except Thou show Thyself to me, waiting to receive and welcome and
keep me? I pray Thee show me how Thou as Vine undertaketh to do all. To be
occupied with Thee is to abide in Thee. Here I am, Lord, a branch, cleansed and
abiding--resting in Thee, and awaiting the inflow of Thy life and grace.