ABIDING IN CHRIST IS THE ABUNDANT LIFE

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ABIDING IN CHRIST IS THE ABUNDANT LIFE

Like a river full of water, 

   God enriches the earth

and provides people with grain,

   because this is how He works in the world:1

You water its furrows abundantly,

    settling its ridges,

softening it with showers,

    and blessing its growth.

You crown the year with your bounty;

    your wagon tracks overflow with richness.

The pastures of the wilderness overflow;

    the hills gird themselves with joy;

the meadows clothe themselves with flocks;

    the valleys deck themselves with grain;

    they shout and sing together for joy.

1 My paraphrase of Psalm 65:9.

I was reading these closing verses from Psalm 65 this morning (one of my favorite passages in the psalms), and I was impressed all over again with the bounty, the abundance, that God wants to pour into our laps, not because we're so lovely or deserving, but simply because it is His nature to shower blessing and abundance upon those who love Him!

And I haven't been able to stop thinking lately of what a blessing it is to abide in Christ–and how beyond-blessed we are to know that He abides in us!  And I also can't stop thinking of the fruitfulness and abundance and richness that flow from abiding in Him.

At the same time, I'm mindful of how easy it is for us to separate our practicing of the practices from our abiding in Christ.  The whole time we're keeping Sabbath, or reading our Scriptures, or giving away our possessions, or fasting, or whatever, we should also be abiding in Christ.  We do all these things with Him and in Him, and in the end we become like Him!  What a wonderful mystery!  But also, what a privilege to not just wait for this oneness to be dropped into our laps, but to actually participate with Him in fulfilling His promises to us!  

We participate with Jesus in the practices because He went before us in practicing them–He shows us how to abide because He Himself abides in the Father.  And when we engage in the practices while we abide in Him, we are weaving them–and Him–into the rhythm of our lives.

And I'm also thinking this morning of His promises.  Read that Psalm 65 passage again (go ahead, I'll be right here when you get back!).

Do you see the grace? the abundance? the favor? the blessing in every verse?  Hardened ridges and furrows softening even as the rain falls upon them, a bounty so rich and full that the wagons overflow as they bounce along the path, the meadows and hills crowded with grain and sheep, and they, even they, shout and sing together for joy! This is no stingy God who has to have blessings pried from his clenched fist!

It's a beautiful picture, but it's also a beautiful promise.  The hills and the sheep shout and sing, basking in the bounty and perfection that God has provided for them, and their shouting and singing reminds me of what Jesus says during His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem: "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out!" And we are no different than the hills and sheep, except that, because we're human beings made in the image of God, when we bask in God's bounty and provision, He also involves us in His work. He longs for our willing and eager participation.  And the practices are just simply how we do this.

One of the ways we live the promise that God has opened up before us is to give the blessings back, sharing them with whoever crosses our path. And it's no different with the difficult people around us--when we keep ourselves from judging others, when we forgive and bless them as abundantly as we have been forgiven and blessed, we are participating in the abundant life of Jesus.  As He says:  

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap, for the measure you give will be the measure you get back" (Luke 6:37-38).

And do you see there the gracious thread of connection between God's rich blessing, our taking hold of that blessing, and then our generous passing along of that blessing to others?  If our practices don't help us live this way among other image-bearers in the world, we should leave them behind and find other, better practices for abiding in Christ.

Another passage God showed me this morning was from Deuteronomy 30.  It's a long passage, but I only want to focus on a few brief thoughts that will help us enter more fully into God's promises and guide us into a more fruitful following of Him.  (I'll highlight key thoughts I want to show you in bold italics.)

“When all these things have happened to you, the blessings and the curses that I have set before you, if you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you and return to the Lord your God, and you and your children obey him with all your heart and with all your soul, just as I am commanding you today, then the Lord your God will return you from your captivity and have compassion on you, gathering you again from all the peoples among whom the Lord your God has scattered you. Even if you are exiled to the ends of the world, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you back. The Lord your God will bring you into the land that your ancestors possessed, and you will possess it; he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors.

“Moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live….  Then you shall again obey the Lord, observing all his commandments that I am commanding you today, and the Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all your undertakings, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your soil. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, just as he delighted in prospering your ancestors, when you obey the Lord your God by observing his commandments and decrees that are written in this book of the law, because you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul (Deuteronomy 30:1-10).

First, we need to remember all the blessings of God (as well as His warnings, but if we remember and obey, we need not concern ourselves with those!).  

And if we have wandered from right paths, and return to Him (and the evidence of our returning is obeying Him!), He will then return to us and have compassion on us (and our very returning to Him is the fruit of His compassion!).

Our response to His compassion is our whole and joyful obedience, loving Him with all our heart and soul.  The chains of our captivity to sin will be broken and He will welcome us back with great compassion to the land of promise.

And the result of all this gathering and returning, loving and obeying, is fulfilment, abundance, joy, peace, and prosperity!

And lastly, because God is so eager for us to embrace His promise, He repeats it all again in the next paragraph, with still more heart and compassion and, if I may be so bold, still more yearning for His people.  I hope you see that yearning here, I hope you hear it in His voice!  The passion of God is for His people–always has been and always will be.  If you watch for it and listen for it, it's everywhere from Genesis to Revelation:  "I will be their God, and they will be My people."

There is great encouragement and joy and freedom in abiding in Christ because to abide in Him is to enter His joy, to become boys and girls, men and women, who embody joy and gladness and abundance!  As Nehemiah 8:10 says, "The joy of the Lord is your strength."  And what does this mean except that God is Himself the most joyful of all beings and that, by abiding in Him, His joy becomes the fountain of a strength beyond our own–and who can contain that!

Be encouraged, friend, for God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, who spoke all worlds into being, is both with you and for you.