Taking It to Work:
When the Lord calls us, it is not just for salvation. Although that day where we receive His forgiveness and vow our lives to Him, that is a huge milestone in the Christian journey; but there’s even a greater gift, and that is the privilege to walk with him for the rest of our lives. The Bible often uses the word ‘abide’ to describe this close camaraderie, this deep partnership, this oneness with the Lord as we live our lives.
Now there is stiff competition against this idea of abiding though, as we are all very tempted to go it alone; be our own boss, our own Lord, even after we’re saved. Often we think we see greater horizons, and we think it would be better if we steer our own ship, but it is just the opposite. God has the bigger plans; unlimited plans, if in faith we allow Him to lead, but to do that, we have to know what it means to abide in Him.
It is similar to the sailor who loves the sea. He might spend his whole life studying and exploring it, maybe even become an expert seaman, but never learns what it is like to dive under the surface. He sails the beauty of the shimmering sea, but never discovers the unbelievable, beautiful and abundant life that exists just below him.
Those that abide, they learn the depth of who their Savior is, and the abundant life that He offers; and its usually a world they never thought imaginable or possible. And like the avid diver, once that diver is exposed to the grandeur of the undersea world, its very hard for him to be satisfied with floating on the surface. Once the real ocean is experienced, his desire is only to go deep again.
In salvation we enter into a wonderful, new relationship with our Maker, one that is not possible before the cross, but we can’t stay on the surface of salvation, the Lord has greater and deeper plans for our life if we make Him Lord. Salvation was a cleansing that only God can do, but now we have a second invitation to abide, to journey side-by-side with Him as He leads.
And this is not just a call for Sundays. It is a call to abide in our work days too. We must be aware that He is as present in our office as He is in our church. He is as present with you in the weekly status meeting as He is in the weekly prayer meeting. It is our job to stay aware of that, and then to be intentional about going to work every day with Him; asking for guidance and wisdom, praising Him for opportunities, and following in such a way, at work, that work week by work week, year by year, we find a deeper and deeper joy in life as we daily abide.
There is more than surface salvation; there is true depth in really making Jesus the Lord and Leader of your life; and in that incredible, deeper dive with Him, you will experience much more life than you could ever ask or imagine, as His Word works in you, today.
Micah 6:8 (ESV) – He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
John 15:4 (ESV ) – Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
Eph 3:30 (ESV) – Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
John 6:44a (ESV) – No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.
Listening to the Holy Spirit:
With the call to come, so too, the call to stay. There is a greater journey for man, than the journey of men without God. Small is the playground, fenced and confined, but to those who abide in Me, these have true freedom, for they shall enjoy unlimited sands of shores unknown. As the mariner is confined to the surface of the sea, so is the man who walks without his Savior. But he who hears My call to truly abide, to enter into My communion, to give the desires of man small and limited stare, it is to he who enters into the sea to discover the depths and beauty and life, that he who fights the storms of the surface cannot see nor imagine. You who have heard My Father’s call, who have returned from the dead, do not leave so soon the entrance. Abide in Me, that your journey would not be shallow, nor the surface storms great. I call you deeper where your heart shall find peace in the greatest storm, and you shall truly know My love. As My Father has called you to Me, so now I say “Enter in”, for I have opened what was shut, that you might stay in Me.
