To My Facebook Friends
To My Facebook Brother in Christ….
Thirty years ago you gave me a gift, a birthday gift. A bunch of us were celebrating my 50th in our backyard. Your gift was a compilation of four classic christian books. Do you remember? A few years ago I came across one of these classics, Andrew Murray’s “Abide In Christ” (which, I confess, I had never read). What a find! What a treasure! I like to pass on books after reading, but never this one. I will tell you why it was so meaningful and comforting….
Abide in Christ. Christianity should be an abiding relationship with Lord Jesus. Many years ago the Lord ‘gave’ me a few verses, which I am sure you are familiar with, John 15:4: “Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me”….. and John 15:5: “He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit.” These two passages have been my mainstay for many years. While lukewarm is fraught with danger, there is safety in intimacy. Jesus protects sheep grazing contentedly under His shadow; it is these devoted ones who experience the abundant life He paid for with His blood.
For many years the cry of my heart to Christ’s people, expressed in my writings, has been RETURN. Return to the intimacy we all experienced when first “born of the Spirit”. I am of the strong opinion that most have exchanged “first love” for something much inferior (religion, money, relationships, addictions, etc.). When I say “most” I mean well over 90%, pulpit-people and pew-people. Almost a hundred years ago Andrew Murray explained why so many in his day experienced disappointment in their christianity: “YOU HAVE WANDERED FROM HIM.” He writes, “The blessings He bestows…. are only to be enjoyed in close fellowship with Himself.”
“You have wandered from Him.” Sheep wander. And when they drift from “the good shepherd” to follow after human shepherds or, perhaps, wanting to regain the self-rule they had before their conversion to Christ, they lose much of their power and much of the “fruit of the Spirit”. So what does our Shepherd do? Does He reject those who have snubbed His lordship? No. He raises up voices to call them back. To return. A century ago Lord Jesus raised up a powerful yet gentle voice. If I had opportunity to distribute only one book to every christian within Christ’s church it would be “Abide in Christ” by Andrew Murray. And if every reader were to heed the brother’s beckoning to return to “first love” the cumulative fruit would be enormous. How quickly the nations would be reached with the gospel.
So thank you. When reading this gift I often think of the giver. I hope all is well, precious brother-in-Christ. May we both go deeper in Him. Amen?