Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. (John 15:4 NIV)
He has chosen us from the foundation of the world in Christ. He has selected One
in whom we shall find Him, and in whom alone we shall find Him. All the forces of hell
will be at work, in the first place, to keep us out of
Christ. They rage to prevent people coming into
Christ, and when once they have come in, these forces
are unceasing and relentless in their efforts to get
them off the ground of Christ, on to things possibly,
or on to any other ground. There is an immense meaning in Christ's word: "Abide in Me... except ye
abide in Me..." (John 15:4). It is a warning,
governing word. Where and how shall we find the
Lord? Only on the line of Christ, where Christ's
interests are the object of our being here, where it is
true "For me to live is Christ" (Philippians 1:21).
You find the Lord there. Get off that ground, be driven
off, be allured off, and you lose the Lord. It is there, on
that ground, that the explanation of the Christian life is
found. It is on that line that the very purpose for
which we are created will have its out-working. It is
on that line that we shall find Divine guidance.
This Divine law of God's way has many practical
applications in the life of the Christian. How many
spiritual tragedies we have known brought about by
human selectiveness apart from the first and supreme
interest of Christ. It might be the choice of residence,
location, for instance, for reasons of convenience,
pleasure, escape, or seeming necessity, as in the case
of Abraham to which we have referred. No less a
question than having the Lord with us is bound up
with such choices and decisions. We cannot move off
the Lord's ground without the consequence of
spiritual disaster. How costly it was in the case of
Elimelech! If Christ is the Way, the Directive; then He is the
Example. How meticulously careful He was not to
move, or be moved by any consideration but the
directive of the Father!
Many motives were put to Him for action and
movement, but He abode in the Father, and, often
at great cost, refused other considerations.