p. 411 | Abide in Me by Mrs. C. Lawton

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 20, 1883

Abide in Me.

By Mrs. C. Lawton

"If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."

What is it to abide in Christ? It certainly is not merely to profess to be a Christian, or even to attend to all the outward forms of religion. We may be decided believers in present truth, and do much to help forward the cause; we may make great sacrifices, and suffer persecution and reproach, and not fully abide in Christ.

Christ says, "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." You may say, "Do we not keep the commandments?" We certainly profess to; but do we keep them all? If we break one of the least commands, we have broken the law. In reply to the lawyer, Jesus gave this epitome of the law: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." We must keep these commandments before we can say that we fully abide in Christ.

Is it not to be lamented that we do not put forth a greater effort to obtain this glorious freedom in Christ which he has so freely purchased for us with his own precious blood? We shall be accountable to God for our influence, which would be tenfold greater were we free from sin and unbelief. "Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not." 1 John 3:6. "He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." We shall not knowingly or willfully sin against God when our hearts are filled with the love of God, and all that is opposed to love and purity is overcome. Then we shall partake of the divine nature, and be brought into very near union with Christ. Oh, what a desirable position! our wills wholly subdued, and in sweet union with Christ. We can then sing with the poet:—

"Give joy or grief, give ease or pain, Take life or friends away, But let me find them all again In that eternal day."

We have no choice only that we may glorify God in life or death. We are as a little child, that has no fear while enfolded in the loving arms of its parents. Dear brother, dear sister, shall we not seek rest in Christ? How few live in the enjoyment of this inestimable blessing! Yet we can thus live a Christian life much more easily, and there is as much difference between the life and influence of such a Christian and the life and influence of one who is not thus living as there is between twilight and the sun at noonday.

Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and was translated; but before his translation he had the testimony that he pleased God. And we may also have this testimony. Those who have enjoyed the love of God, the Spirit witnessing with their spirits that they are children of God, can never rest satisfied without it; and no one is fully qualified for usefulness without full consecration to God. How soon would the loud cry go forth, and the work of the third angel be closed up, if the whole church of Seventh-day Adventists were wholly consecrated to God! What a mighty influence would go out in every direction! Cannot the church do much to help forward, or to retard the coming of Christ?

Shall we who profess to love the appearing of our blessed Lord and Saviour longer delay his coming by our tardiness, our lukewarm spirit? Shall we not rather press into the light by making a full surrender to God? If we are thorough in the surrender we make, it is our privilege and duty to believe that God accepts the sacrifice; and he will send light, love, joy, and peace into our hearts. Then we shall feel like rallying around the standard of truth. We shall have a desire to do all we can to hasten the work. Our prayers, fervent and effectual, will go out after those who are strangers to the truth.

Dear brethren and sisters, "abide in Christ," and let his word abide in you; then you may ask whatsoever you will, and it shall be done unto you. Mrs. C. LAWTON.