Jesus is to me at this moment!

“If I can say ‘Jesus is to me at this moment all that God gave Him to be – life and strength and peace – I have but as I say it, to hold still and rest and realize it, and for that moment I have what I need.’  Believer! when striving to find the way to abide in Christ from moment to moment, remember that the gateway is:  Abide in Him at this present moment.  Instead of wasting effort in trying to get into a state that will last, just remember that it is Christ Himself, the living, loving, Lord, who alone can keep you, and is waiting to do so. Begin at once and act faith in Him for the present moment.  This is the only way to be kept the next.”

The life of faith is an effortless life. Christ, Himself, is the source of this new life and as a branch draws its sustenance from the vine so must we draw upon Him for every need.  It is not trying to live the life.  It is letting Him live His life in us.  We are utterly helpless but it takes us so long to realize it.  When Jesus said, “Without me ye can do nothing,” He meant just that, but we are prone to think we must do our best.  It is not our best He wants, it’s not our anything but simply for us to move out and let Him take over, as a hand takes over the glove.  Someone has said, “The truest test of Christian living is in the question:  Am I trying or am I abiding?  If I find myself still trying I am not as yet an unchoked channel through which His life may flow.”  Another says, “Absolute dependence upon God is the secret of all power in work.”

The branch life is not only a life of entire dependence on God but it is a life of deep restfulness.  This restfulness is the most contagious thing about the Christian.  The world is seeking for rest, and when it sees those who are really resting it is drawn to them.  The branch does nothing but rest in the vine and the vine supplies all it needs for leaf, bud, flower and fruit.  The responsibility is all on the vine.  Sometimes we try very hard to rest and grow restless in our trying.  It is at this point that the Sprit must show us that it is by simply giving up all effort and sinking down into God moment by moment that we will experience His rest.  The writer once asked an evangelist this question, “How do you get helpless?”  He wisely answered, “Of course you can’t get helpless, you already are!”

--Andrew Murrey