Dear Ones:
Where do we live? I do not refer to a physical address. There is a old hymn, written by A.I. Waring, in which he writes: “In heav’nly love abiding, no change my heart shall fear; And safe is such confiding, for nothing changes here.” The Psalmist wrote: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” (Ps. 91:1) Both authors speak of abiding, remaining, living in the reality of certain truths. Both men speak of learning to live in the presence of God, one with respect to the love of God, the other in regard to His protection and power.
Jesus spoke in like manner to His disciples, though more specifically and personally. “As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you: continue ye in My love. If ye keep My commandments, ye shall ABIDE in my love.” (Jn. 15:9-10) What is He saying, and how can it be realized in our lives?
The first thing that we must grasp is that, all that Jesus says and commands us to be and to do is founded in the TRUTH. This truth, as well as the One who IS truth, is the bedrock of all true Christian experience. So, He begins with the declared message, truth, concerning His love: “For God so loved the world…I have loved thee with an everlasting love…nothing shall separate us from the love of God IN Christ Jesus.” Because of our union with Christ, there is NO separation with Him in regard to His love. It is ever constant, unchanging, never absent, always all-encompassing. The question is whether we live IN it or not? Jesus goes on to say, “….If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love.” (v.10) What does He mean by this? The means by which we will know, and experience the love of God, is by walking with Him. The person who would abide in His love, live in the reality of that love, and consequently KNOW that Love, is that one who is pursuing Christ according to His word. He lives to walk and to commune with Christ. It is to this one that His love will be revealed.
Specifically, how do we abide in Him, and in His love? We begin by laying hold on the fact and truth of our union with Him, we in Him, and He in us by the Spirit. Secondly, we, by an act of faith, set our lives in Him, and seek to derive all from Him by that inward aspiration of faith. Thirdly, we seek Christ to strengthen us by His Spirit in the inner man that He may dwell in our hearts by faith. All true experience is by faith, in the faithfulness of God. The writer of the hymn came to grips with the possibility of living in “heavenly love.” The psalmist came to see the blessed privilege and possibility of abiding, dwelling in the presence of God. Then Jesus comes to reveal to all that would see, that on this side of Pentecost, the possibilities of abiding in Him, dwelling in Him, and thus abiding in His love, are enormous BY THE SPIRIT.
Dear Father, grant us this day to live by the faith of the Son of God, enabling us more and more to abide in Him, and abide in His everlasting, unceasing love. Fill us with love Divine, heavenly love, that others may see and know that Thou art God, blessed forever, and be drawn to Thee. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Love, Dad