Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
The details of this relationship are there, but they are hard to get to, hard to fathom, and harder to grasp experientially and live within. You know, "abide". What a brutal word, in my lexicon! But it's sort of become a burning passion within me. And I hope that it's softened my interactions with others. And simplified them. How we need simplification! Not Christ and the church, not the ministry or God's present move on the earth, so-called, but just the One in whom God delights.
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Just a thought - see how this rings to you. I have a less mystical view of the word "abide" today than I used to. 1 John: "Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father." I really believe this means that our abiding in Christ simply means grasping, reminding ourselves, laying hold of, and not neglecting the promise of the Gospel. Just like Paul said in Colossians that He will present us without spot "if indeed we continue in the faith, rooted/grounded and not being moved away from the hope of the gospel which we heard and which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven." With all of WL's focus on Christ as the Spirit (which I believe actually helped me be aware of how near and dear He is to me), I sort of lost the notion that He is also the message itself. We walk by faith, and that faith comes from hearing the word, and the Word is not just in general "the Bible" but the message which we heard from the beginning - the promise of eternal life because of what Jesus did on the cross. That keeps us in Him, and abiding in Him simply means not moving away from that word and onto something else (even temping biblical hobbyhorses . ) Ever since I read Andrew Murray's 'Abide in Christ' (which I read before Witness LEe) i had this terrible burden about "walking in the spirit" and keeping myself in the mystical union with Christ. I found it impossible, because that sense is continually interrupted by the sinful flesh and distractions of the world. I do believe you're right about Jesus' mysterious union with the Father - but He was the burnt offering - absolutely for God where we cannot be. We just don't have that capacity, so he simplified it and gave us the message of the Gospel to cling to. This is something we will never move away from ultimately because we've been sealed. We are mystically one with Christ - it's an accomplished fact, but until we see Him face to face and get rid of this flesh He's given us something simpler to hold on to - just believe the message.
Well, it's a comfort to me, that's for sure.