How To Abide
A.B. Simpson
"And now, little children, abide in him; that,
when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed
before him at his coming." (I John 2:28)
It would seem as though John meant that only little children
could abide in Him; that only when we get to be little can
we know the Lord in His fullness; only when we cease from
our manly and womanly strength and become dependent can we
know His strength and independence as our support and stay.
John counted himself among the little children, because he
says, "we" when he addresses us. He was indeed a little child
in spirit from the time Boanerges died, and John laid his
head on Jesus' breast to be strong no more in himself, and
to be seen no more apart from the enfolding arms of Jesus.
We have seen Christ in His personal glory; we have seen
what it is to be in Him and to have Him in us, and now we
want to have these impressions stereotyped. John says, "Little
children, abide in him, that when he shall appear we may have
confidence."
Let us speak very particularly and plainly about how we
may maintain this abiding. You have surrendered; you have
given up your strength as well as your will; you have consented
that henceforth He shall support your life. Like a true bride,
you have given up your very person, your name, your independence,
so that now He is to be your Lord. Your very life is merged
in Him, and He becomes your Head and your All in All. Now,
beloved, how is this to be maintained? He says we are to abide,
and He will abide in some sense according to our abiding.
"Abide in me, and I in you."
Live By The Moment
First, it must be a momentary life, not a current that flows
on through its own momentum; but a succession of little acts
and habits. You have Him for the moment, and you have Him
perfectly; you are perfectly saved this moment; you are victorious
this moment, and that which fills this moment is large enough
to fill the next, so that if you shall renew this fellowship
every moment, you shall always abide in Him. Have you learned
this? The failures in your life mostly come through lost moments,
broken stitches, little interstices, cleavages in the rock
where the drops of water trickle down and become a torrent.
But if you lost no steps and no victories, you shall abide
in constant triumph.
First, then, learn this secret, that you are not sanctified
for all time so that there will be no more need for grace
and victory; but you have grace for this moment, and the next
moment, and by the time life is spent, you shall have had
a whole ocean of His grace. It may be a very little trickling
stream at first; but let it flow through every moment, and
it shall become a boundless ocean before its course is done.
Definite Acts of Will
Next, this abiding must be established by a succession of
definite acts of will, and of real, fixed, steadfast trust
in Christ. It does not come as a spontaneous and irresistible
impulse that carries you whether you will or not, but you
have to begin by an act of trust, and you must repeat it until
it becomes a habit. It is very important to realize this.
A great many think, when they get a blessing, that it ought
to sweep them on without further effort. It is not so. An
act of will, an act of choice is the real helm of spiritual
life. You were saved from sin by actually choosing Jesus as
your Saviour; you were consecrated by definitely giving yourself
and taking Him for everything.
So beloved, you must keep the helm fixed, and press on,
moment by moment, still choosing to trust Christ and live
by Him until at last it comes to be as natural as your breathing.
It is like a man rescued from drowning; when they take him
from the water, respiration seems to be stopped. And when
it returns, it is not spontaneous, but a succession of labored
pumpings; they breathe the air in and they breathe the air
out, perhaps for half an hour; then an involuntary action
is noticed, and nature comes and makes the act spontaneous;
and soon the man is breathing without effort.
But it came by a definite effort at first, and by and by
it became spontaneous. So with Christ: if you would have this
abiding in Him become spontaneous, you must make it a spiritual
habit. The prophet speaks of the mind "stayed on God," and
David says, "My heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord." We
begin by determining, and we obey Him no matter what it costs;
and by and by the habit is established.
The Law of Habit
Then comes the third principle: habit. Every habit grows
out of a succession of little acts. No habit comes full-grown
into your life; it grows like the roots of a tree, like the
fibres of the flesh, as the morsels of food you swallow are
absorbed into your life. You see a man going steadily along
in a course of life, but that course of life was established
by the habit of years. The stenographer at my side sits and
takes down my words as fast as I can speak them. At first
it was clumsy and slow work; but at length it became a habit,
and now he does not have to stop and think how to make the
characters; they come to him as naturally as the words come
to my lips. So it is with writing: we remember how painfully
at first we had to hold the pen, but we now dash off our signature,
and it is always the same; our friends know it, our banker
knows it; and it can be identified as ours. How did it come
about? Because for years we have made the same marks. This
is the reason, beloved, that it pays to plod; the habit becomes
at length a necessity, and is easier as it grows.
It is so with evil; it is easier for a man to go down the
longer he goes down, and it is easier for him to go up the
longer he goes up. And so it is with looking to Jesus; it
is like the movement of the eye--the lid moves instinctively
and the Bible uses it as a figure of God's care. "Keep me
as the apple of thine eye." Before the dust can hurt the eye,
the little curtain falls over the tender ball. So we find
ourselves in life instinctively holding our tongues when we
would have felt like talking. So we can discern the very scent
of evil before it comes and inarticulately breathe a prayer
to heaven before the danger reaches us. Thus also will the
habit of obedience be formed; it comes by doing steadily,
persistently, and faithfully what the Lord would have you
to do. He is putting you to school in these little trials,
until He gets the habit confirmed, and obedience becomes easy
and natural.
Self-Repression
Again, if we would abide in Christ we must continually study
to have no confidence in self. Self-repression must be ever
the prime necessity of divine fullness and efficiency. Now
you know how quickly you spring to the front when any emergency
arises. You know how easy it was for Peter to step forth with
his sword drawn before he knew whether he was able to meet
the foe or not. When something in which you are interested
comes up, you say that you think under some sudden impulse,
and then, perhaps, you have weeks of taking back your thought,
and taking the Lord's instead. It is only as we get out of
the way of the Lord that He can use us.
And so, beloved, let us practice the repression of self
and the suspending of our will about everything until we have
looked to Him and said, "Lord, what is Thy will? What is Thy
thought about it?" When you have that, you and He are not
at cross-purposes; and there is blessed harmony. Those who
thus abide in Christ have the habit of reserve and quiet;
they are not reckless talkers; they will not always have an
opinion about everything, and they will not always know what
they are going to do. They will be found holding back rash
judgments, and walking softly with God. It is our headlong,
impulsive spirit that keeps us so constantly from hearing
and following the Lord.
Dependence
If we would abide in Christ we must remember that Christ
has undertaken not only the emergencies of life, but everything;
and so we must cultivate the habit of constant dependence
on Him; falling back on Him and finding Him everywhere; recognizing
that He has undertaken the business of your life, and there
is not a difficulty that comes up, but He will carry you through
if you let Him have His way and hold the reins, and you just
trust and follow.
Recognizing His Presence
Again, if you would abide in Christ you must cultivate the
habit of always recognizing Him as near, in your heart of
hearts, so that you need not try to find Him, reaching out
to the distant heavens and wondering where He has gone. He
is right here; His throne is in your heart; His resources
are at hand. There may be no sense of God's presence, but
just accept the fact that the Spirit is in your heart, and
act accordingly. Bring everything to Him, and soon the consciousness
will become real and delightful. We do not begin with feeling--we
begin with acting as though He were here. So, if you would
abide in Christ, treat Him as if He were in you, and you in
Him; and He will respond to your trust, and honor your confidence.
God In Everything
Further, if you would abide in Christ, you must recognize
that Christ is in everything that comes in your life; and
that everything that occurs in the course of Providence is
in some sense connected with the will of God. That trying
circumstance was not chance, something with which Christ had
nothing to do, and which you can only protest against and
wonder how God can sit on the throne and let such things be.
You must believe that God led in it, and though the floods
have lifted up their heads on high, yet God sits on the throne,
and is mightier than the great sea billows and the noise of
many waters. You must believe that He will "cause the wrath
of man to praise him, and the remainder thereof will he restrain."
You must say: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present
help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth
be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst
of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled,
though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof."
We need not regard everything as the very best thing that
we would choose, or the very best thing that God ultimately
has for you; but it is allowed, either that God may show you
His power to overcome it, or else that it may teach you some
lesson of holiness, trust, tranquillity, or courage. It is
something that, under the circumstances, fits into God's purposes;
and, therefore, you are not to look for different circumstances,
but to conquer in these already around you. You are not to
run away and say, "I will abide in Christ when I get to where
I want to be," but you must abide in Christ in the ship and
the storm, as well as in the harbor of blessing. Recognize
that everything is permitted by God, and that He is able to
make all things work together; and not only so, but to make
you know they are all for your good, and they are working
out His purposes.
Watch the Outward Senses
Again, if we would abide in Christ, we must be very watchful
of our senses. There is nothing that so easily sets us wandering,
and leads us out into dangerous fields and by-path meadows
as the senses of the body. How often our eyes will take us
away! Walking down the street you will find a thousand things
to call you from a state of recollection. Some people's eyes
are like a spider's--they see behind and before and on every
side. You know Solomon says, "Let thine eyes look right on,
and let thine eyelids look straight before thee." It is this
letting the world in, no matter by what door it comes, that
separates us from the presence of our Lord.
So with our ears. If you listen to one-hundredth part of
the conversation even of Christians you will be thoroughly
defiled; and so you have to hold your ears, and your eyes,
and live in a little circle. You have not to manage half so
many things as you undertake to sometimes, and about which
you have so much anxiety.
There is a little creature called the water spider, and
it lives in the water, away down in the mud lake of the marsh.
It just goes down a few inches and lives there all the time.
You ask how it can breathe and live in the water? Oh, it has
a strange apparatus by which it is able to gather around itself
a bubble of air a few times larger than its body. It goes
to the surface and fills it with air and goes down, and this
little air bubble forms an atmosphere for it, and there it
builds its nest and rears its young; and you know where air
is the water cannot get in. So it is as safe in its little
home with the dark water all around it, as if it lived above
in the clear air of heaven. So we can get into our element
and stay there with Him, and although there is sin around
us, and hell beneath us, and men are struggling and tempted
and sinning, we shall be as safe as the saints above, in the
heavenlies, in Christ Jesus.
Internal Prayer
Once more, if we would abide in Him, we must cultivate the
habit of internal prayer, communing with God in the heart.
We must know the meaning of such words as "God is a Spirit,
and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in
truth." "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of
God concerning you." This habit of silent prayer, not in word,
but in thought, is one of the secrets of abiding. There is
an old word the mystics used--"recollection." We would call
it a recollected spirit.
Vigilance
There is another word in connection with abiding: it is
vigilance--being wide awake. It is the opposite of drifting.
It is the spirit of holding, and being ever on guard, and
yet sweetly held by the Lord. Now this does not mean that
you have to do all the holding and watching; you are to have
your hand on the helm, and Christ will do the steering. It
is like the brakes on the train--the brakeman only touches
the lever and sets the current in motion; the engineer does
not have to make the train go, he has only to turn the throttle.
You and I do not need to fight our battles. We have only to
give the watchword, and the powers of heaven follow it up
if it is in the name of Jesus. So we may ever abide in fellowship
and victory moment by moment, until at last He becomes the
element of our very life.
Let God Lead
If we would abide in Christ, we must stop trying to have
God help us, and fall into God's way and let Him lead. We
must get the idea out of our spirit that we have chosen to
serve Christ and we have got to have Christ help us. We must
see, rather, that we have come into His way and He is carrying
us because He cannot go any other way. If you get on the bosom
of the river, you have to go down the river; if you are in
the bosom of God, you have to go with Him. Only surrender
yourself to God, and your life will be as strong as omnipotence
and as sweet as heaven.
Surprises
We should, perhaps, speak of the surprises that come. Sometimes
the Lord let sudden temptations sweep over you to put you
on your guard; and if such things come into your life, take
them as from Him, sent to put you on the watch and give you
some hint, like the falling of the eyelash to let you know
that the eye is threatened. But if you keep very close to
Christ, I do not believe that these things will come as quickly
as you think. They spring often from some heedlessness of
your own. You are getting out of the way, and were not where
the Lord expected you to be, and, perhaps, the surprise came
to let you know that you had been in the enemy's country.
If we abide in Him, all evil will have to strike us through
Him. Perhaps you were a little out of your center and Christ
let the enemy come to frighten you back to Him, just as the
shepherd's dogs are sent to drive the lambs into the fold.
Better that you should get a little fall than ultimately to
meet with disaster.
Failures
But if, notwithstanding all your care, you make a mistake,
if you have a disaster or a discouragement, don't say, "I
have lost my blessing." "I have found this life impracticable";
but remember that "if we confess our sins, he is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness."
How to Make God Real
A friend asked the question the other day, "How can I make
God real?" God is not real to many people. He does not seem
so real to that man as his difficult task; He does not seem
so real to that woman as her work and her trials; He does
not seem so real to that sufferer as his sickness. How shall
we make Him real? The best way I know is to take Him into
the things that are real. That headache is real. Take Him
into it, and He will be as real as the headache, and a good
deal more, for He will be there when the headache is gone.
That trial is real; it has burned itself into your life; God
will be more so. That washing and ironing are real; take God
into your home, and He will be as real. That is what makes
Him real--to link Him with your life.
So the banyan tree grows. First its trunk and branches shoot
up to heaven, and then the branches grow down into the ground
and become rooted in the earth, and by and by there are a
hundred branches interwoven and interlaced from the ground
so that the storm and the winds cannot disturb it, and even
the simoon of the Indian Ocean cannot tear it up. It is rooted
and bound together by hundreds of interlacing roots and branches.
And so when God saves a soul He plants one branch; but when
He comes to fill and sanctify and help in your difficulties,
each is another branch; and thus your life becomes rooted
and bound to God by a hundred fibres, and all the power of
hell cannot break that fellowship or separate you from His
love.
"Lord Jesus, make Thyself to me
A living, bright reality,
More present to faith's vision keen
Than any outward object seen,
More dear, more intimately nigh,
Than e'en the sweetest earthly tie.
"Nearer and nearer still to me
Thou living, loving Saviour be.
Brighter the vision of Thy face,
More glorious still Thy words of grace;
Till life shall be transformed to love,
A heaven below, a heaven above."
