On that touching occasion when the Lord was alone with His disciples, communicating His farewell words of comfort, and imparting to them His last instructions, again and again He pressed the deep necessity, as well as the blessedness, of abiding in Him. We hear Hun say:"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches; He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without Me ye can do nothing. … If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you" (John 15:4-7).

Again, the beloved apostle, who heard these farewell words from the lips of the Lord, passes them on to believers in his Epistle:"He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked" (1 John 2:6)."And now, little children, abide in Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming" (2:28). "Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not" (3:6).

If these verses set before us the blessedness of abiding in Christ, we may well pause to enquire, What are we to understand by the Lord’s words, "Abide in Me"? Do they not imply a walk in such nearness to Christ that the soul delights in all His loveliness and moral excellencies, and thus finds in Him its object and perfect pattern? Also, does not abiding in Christ suppose a heart in communion with Christ, that delights to confide in Him and learn of Him?

Above all, does not abiding in Christ imply a life lived under the influence of His presence, realized by faith? If a saintly and Christlike man of God visited our home, would not his presence have a restraining influence upon everyone in the home? We should probably be a little more careful than usual of our words and ways. If this would be the effect of the presence of a man of like passions with ourselves, what would be the effect of the realized presence of Christ Himself? At times sad scenes have taken place, even among the Lord’s people, in which we may have had our humbling part, when envy and strife prevailed, and believers have thoughtlessly, or even maliciously, wounded one another with bitter and offensive words. We may try to excuse our strong words. But should we not do well to ask ourselves, What would have happened if the Lord had silently, but visibly, walked into our midst? Should we not have to confess that under the influence of His presence many a bitter and offensive word would never have been uttered?

How good, then, it would be if we could ever remember that though the Lord is not visible to sight, yet He hears, He sees, He knows. Well indeed does the Psalmist ask, "He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that formed the eye, shall He not see? … He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not He know?" (Psa. 94:9,10). To walk, then, in the consciousness that He listens to our words, that He sees our every act, that He reads our thoughts, is to walk under the blessed influence of His presence and thus abide in Him.

Furthermore, these scriptures that exhort us to abide in Christ tell us also the blessedness we shall enjoy if we do abide in Him. First, we learn that abiding in Christ we shall bring forth fruit. The importance of this is pressed upon us by being stated both negatively and positively. We are told that unless we abide in Christ we cannot bring forth fruit. Then we are told that if we abide in Christ, and He in us, we shall bring forth much fruit. From another Scripture we learn that the fruit of the Spirit is "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance [or self-control]" (Gal. 5:22,23). What are these lovely qualities but a description of the beautiful character of Christ? So we may surely say that the fruit of which the Lord speaks is the reproduction of His own character in the lives of believers.

The fruit in this passage is not service or the exercise of gift, however important these may be in their place. Rather, it is the expression of something of the loveliness of Christ in our lives. Any little setting forth of the graces of Christ goes up as fruit to the Father, and goes out as testimony to the world. This, then, is the great object for which we are left in this dark world, to shine as lights by exhibiting something of the beautiful character of Christ. This will only be possible as we abide in Christ. We shall never exhibit the character of Christ by simply trying to be like Christ. If, however, we seek His company, and come under His influence, by abiding in Him, we shall be changed into His image from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18).

Secondly, the Lord’s words plainly tell us that if we abide in Christ our prayers will have an answer. If under the blessed influence of His presence, with His words abiding in our hearts, our thoughts would be formed by His thoughts and our prayers would be in accord with His mind. Thus praying, we should have an answer to our prayers.

Thirdly, the apostle John tells us in his Epistle that abiding in Him will lead to a "walk, even as He walked." How did Christ walk? Of Him we read, "Christ pleased not Himself." Speaking of the Father, the Lord could say, "I do always those things that please Him" (John 8:29). This is the perfect pattern for the believer’s walk, for the apostle Paul says that we "ought to walk and to please God" (1 Thess. 4:1). Again, the same apostle exhorts believers to "walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us" (Eph. 5:2).

Thus, the outstanding marks of the Lord’s path were the entire absence of self-will in doing the Father’s will, and the serving of others in love. For us, it is only possible to tread such a path of perfection as we abide in Christ. How good, then, like Mary of old, to sit at His feet and hear His words. Thus under His influence we are enabled to recall His path, to trace His footsteps, to listen to His words of love and grace, to see His hand stretched forth to bless, and to discern the spirit of One who ever set aside all thoughts of self in order to serve others in love.

We may know the doctrines of Christianity; we may rightly hold the great essential truths of our faith. But, as another has said, "No amount of knowledge, however correct, no amount of intelligence, however exact, will ever put upon your soul the impress of the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ." If we are to wear the impress of Christ, we must be in His company and walk with Him. Every man is formed by the company that he keeps:the character of the one in whose company we walk is the character we shall reflect. We must abide in Christ and thus walk with Christ if we are to be like Christ and walk as He walked.

Fourthly, the apostle John tells us that if we abide in Christ our walk will be such that we shall not be ashamed before Christ at His coming. Oftentimes our walk, ways, speech, and manners may be acceptable according to human standards. But if we were to judge ourselves, our words, and our ways in the light of the coming glory of the appearing of Christ, should we not find much that we should have to condemn, and confess with shame, as far short of the standard of glory. Only as we abide in Christ, under the influence of His presence, and so walk in self-judgment, shall we be preserved from all that which would cause shame in the day of glory.

Fifthly, we are reminded by the apostle John that "Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not." From the preceding verses we learn what the Spirit of God means by sin, for in 1 John 3:4 we read, "Sin is lawlessness" (JND). The essence of sin is doing one’s own will without reference to God or man. The world around is increasingly marked by lawlessness_everyone doing that which is right in his own eyes. Wherever the spirit of lawlessness prevails, disintegration will follow, whether it be in the world or among the people of God. As believers we are ever in danger of being affected by the spirit of the world around. Thus it has come to pass that through lack of watchfulness the same principle of lawlessness that is breaking up the world system has wrought division and scattering among the people of God.

How are we to escape the evil principle of lawlessness, or self-will? Only by abiding in Christ, for "Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not." Only as we are held under the influence of the One who could say, "I came . . . not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me" (John 6:38), shall we escape the self-will that is the very essence of sin.

These, then, are the blessed results, as brought before us in Scripture, of abiding in Christ. If we were to respond to the Lord’s words by seeking to abide in Him, our lives would bear fruit by expressing something of the lovely character of Christ. Our prayers, being according to His mind, would have an answer. Our path would show forth something of the beauty of His walk. Our ways would be consistent with the coming glory of Christ. Our walk would be preserved from the lawlessness of the flesh.

How good, then, to heed the Lord’s word,’ ‘Abide in Me … for without Me ye can do nothing." We may be gifted and have all knowledge, we may have zeal, we may have long experience. But it still remains true that without Christ we can do nothing. If, then, without Christ we can do nothing, let us seek to abide in Him and not dare to go forward for one day, or take a single step, without Him.

FRAGMENT
Marvel not that Christ in glory
All my inmost heart hath won;
Not a star to cheer my darkness,
But a light beyond the sun.

All below lies dark and shadowed,
Nothing there to claim my heart,
Save the lonely track of sorrow
Where of old He walked apart.

I have seen the face of Jesus_
Tell me not of aught beside;
I have heard the voice of Jesus_
All my soul is satisfied.

FRAGMENT We do not read Scripture with sufficient intimacy of heart. We read it as if we were acquainting ourselves with words and sentences. If I do not get by Scripture into nearness to God in heart and conscience I have not learned the lesson it would teach me.

FRAGMENT A heart possessed with Christ is fortified against the most seductive allurements of the world.

O blessed, living Lord,
Engage our hearts with Thee,
And strike within some answering chord
To love so rich and free!

To know Thy loving heart!
To cleave to Thy blest side!
To gaze upon Thee where Thou art,
And in Thy love abide!

To walk with Thee below!
To learn Thy holy ways!
And more to Thine own stature grow,
To Thine eternal praise!

Thyself our one desire!
Thyself our Object here!
The goal to which our hearts aspire_
To meet Thee in the air!

"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them, for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments" (Exod. 20:4-6).

"Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves . . . lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, . . . and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven" (Deut. 4:15-19).

This was the first commandment broken by the nation of Israel. Moses had not even come down from the mountain with the tables of stone before Israel had crafted for themselves a golden calf and worshipped it as representing "thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt" (Exod. 32:4).

This propensity of the people to turn from the true God to idols is further described by the apostle Paul:"When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves; who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen" (Rom. 1:21-25).

God’s judgment upon those who violated this second commandment was severe:"Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me" (Exod. 20:5). "He took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it… and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men" (Exod. 32:20,28). "When … ye shall. . . make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke Him to anger … ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land . . . and the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you" (Deut. 4:25-27). "If thy brother . . . entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers . . . thou shall stone him with stones, that he die. … If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities . . . Let us go and serve other gods. . . thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly" (Deut. 13:6-18).

This second commandment is closely linked with the first one:"Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." The emphasis in the first is the oneness, the uniqueness of Jehovah, the God of Israel. He alone is the true God. All others_Baal, Dagon, Ashtaroth, Molech, etc._are mere inventions of man’s imagination. In the second commandment the emphasis is on the fact that God is a Spirit (John 4:24), that He is seen and approached by faith, not by sight, that His substance cannot be represented by anything that man can make. God is the Creator of all things. How dare creature man try to fashion an image of his Creator, to change "the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things" (Rom. 1:23).

Man has always had a tendency to gravitate away from that which cannot be seen, which must be apprehended by faith, to that which is visible, as well as to utilize created beings_either real ones or images thereof_as mediators between themselves and God. Even in many so-called Christian churches, where the ten commandments are well known, there is an emphasis on statues, pictures, and images of Christ as well as of created beings such as Mary, the mother of Christ, and various apostles and "saints." People are sometimes encouraged to venerate the persons represented by these statues, touch and kiss them, and even to pray to them as if they were mediators between themselves and God. Thus God Himself is put at a distance, often out of fear of His being a God of judgment, and lack of appreciation of His matchless grace and mercy toward His own. The fact that "There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 2:5) is overlooked. There is not the knowledge of one’s sins totally forgiven and of justification before a holy, righteous God on the basis of the death of Christ at Calvary. There is not the peace of heart and mind before God that results from being justified by faith (Rom. 5:1). Therefore, people fearfully and cautiously seek to approach God through deceased fellow humans, "holy" ones who were once sinners like themselves, who might be expected to have more compassion on them and be more able to put in a good word for them than would God Himself, or Jesus, His Son.

"God is a Spirit"; He is not confined by time and space; He does not specialize in knowledge in certain areas and not others; His power is not limited to those activities that we can see and experience ourselves. Since the gods of the Gentiles were products of their own imagination, their imagined powers and abilities were of necessity limited by the breadth of experience and imagination of those who created them. Thus, for example, when the large Syrian army was soundly trounced by the small army of Israel, the Syrians rationalized their defeat by saying, "Their gods are gods of the hills, therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they" (1 Kings 20:23). The gods of the Gentiles’ imaginations might be limited to certain specialties_war in the hills, war on the plains, fertility, wisdom, etc._but let us be careful that we do not limit God in any way or bring Him down to the level of a human being. God knows everything there is to know about every possible topic in the universe_every language, all science, all diseases . . . and their cures, all tribes of every nation, every single individual, . . . everything! God also has the ability to be at a million (or more) different places, talking and listening to a million (or more) different people, all at the same time. So let us come boldly before Him in prayer at all times, for all things, in all circumstances, knowing He can and does listen to us and that He can and does respond to our requests, according to His perfect will and way and timing.

Just as the children of Israel repeatedly turned away from the true God to serve the idols which their hands had created, so there continues to be a tendency in man today to turn away from the Word of God, the Holy Scriptures, to the advice, prophecies, and fortune-telling offered by man. Many people take their guidance and direction for the day from the daily horoscope. These horoscopes supposedly are constructed on the basis of the position of the stars and planets, though in many cases they may be the pure invention of man’s imagination. Whatever the case may be, the user of the horoscope would be turning either to the planets and stars_God’s creation_or to man’s imagination for guidance, rather than to God Himself and His revealed Word. "Lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven" (Deut. 4:19). May we, as believers in Christ and God, have nothing to do with such things as astrology, fortune-telling, tarot cards, reading palms and tea leaves, Ouija boards, and the like. These are all forms of idolatry, substituting created things and beings for the true God, and at its worst, delving into the world of another spirit-being, namely, Satan, the archenemy of God.

A number of New Testament scriptures warn against idolatry:"Neither be ye idolators. . . flee from idolatry" (1 Cor. 10:7,14). "Keep yourselves from idols" (1 John 5:21). "Abstain from meats offered to idols" (Acts 15:29). Also, covetousness (literally, the desire to have more than another, or more than enough, or more than one’s share) is equated with idolatry in Eph. 5:5 and Col. 3:5.

Considering the extent of idolatrous practices occurring today in nations where Christ is preached and the Bible is available, it is no surprise that idolatry (worship of "the image of the beast") will be most prominent in the era of the great tribulation when God’s children will have been taken to heaven and His restraint of evil will have been removed from this world (Rev. 13:13-18).

In conclusion, we do well to take heed to these words penned by the apostle Paul:"For though there be [those] that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth (as there be gods many, and lords many), … to us there is but one God, the Father, of Whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom are all things, and we by Him" (1 Cor. 8:5,6).

"I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ" (2 Cor. 11:2,3).

The subject that is before me is that of affection for Christ, or the state of heart which the Spirit is here to produce in the saints, and by which they answer to the present thoughts of Christ. I am afraid that when we speak of being here for Christ it is often the thought of our service or conduct that is prominent, and therefore it is well to be reminded that there is something over which Christ is more jealous than He is over our conduct or our service. It is the hidden spring of those affections which alone satisfy His heart, or render conduct and service acceptable to Hun.

This is very strikingly expressed in the passage we have just read, where we see the object of the true evangelist. He is a man bent upon a present result for Christ. He is not anxious to have a number of converts whom he can count as his own; he is not thinking of himself, but of his Master; he is wanting those whom he can present "as a chaste virgin to Christ." It is not that he loses sight of the eternal result, but the immediate object on which his heart is set, and for which he longs with intense fervency, is a present result in a people whose affections are altogether for Christ. "I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ."

This is the great object before the heart of God at the present time_to have a people saved not only from judgment and the lake of fire, but from the world; saved not only for heaven by and by, but for the heart of Christ now. The work of Christ on the cross has settled every question that sin raised between God and our souls, and the future is bright with the glory of God into which we shall be brought according to all the value of that work. But there is another thing, and that is the interval between the cross and the glory_an interval marked, so far as this world is concerned, by the dishonor and rejection of Christ. Satan cannot touch the value of the work of the cross, nor can he mar the perfection of the eternal glory, but the whole force of his power is put forth to hinder a present result for Christ. On the other hand, all the energy of the Holy Spirit is active to produce a present result for Christ. Every believer is looking to be to the satisfaction and joy of Christ in the eternal future; and surely none of us would like to say that we did not care whether we were to His satisfaction now or not, and yet, alas! practically it very often comes to this.

At what point in our Christian lives do we enter into this blessed truth of being espoused to Christ? Perhaps it may be some time after we have been converted; we may have been under the shelter of the blood for years before coming to it. But there is a moment_never to be forgotten_when Christ risen comes before the soul, and the greatness of His victory, and the share we have in it, and the wonderful purposes of God for us_all secured by that victory_take possession of the heart. We are brought to One who has been raised again for our justification, and through Him we find ourselves clear of the judgment land and the oppressor’s power. There is no sense of need in the soul that is in the presence of Christ risen; there is a sense of boundless favor, for the soul is conscious (though it might not know how to explain it) that we share in the victory as belonging to the One who has won it. Through Him we have access into favor. But the soul who has come to this is not thinking so much of the favor or blessing as a thing in itself, but as that which we have in connection with Him, and as belonging to Him. If I belong to Him, the more wonderful His victory and position, the more wonderful mine is, but I think of it all as His. I do not think that we rightly get a sense of belonging to Him until we come to Him as the risen One, but I believe every heart that knows Him as risen from the dead has the consciousness, "I belong to Hun." I believe Thomas had it when he said, "My Lord and my God." I am not speaking of knowing truths or doctrines at all, but of a consciousness in the soul that has really reached Christ risen. I believe that to be the moment of the soul’s espousal unto Christ, or at least of the soul’s appreciation of that blessed fact.

I trust many of you understand the blessedness of a moment when Christ is really known by the heart, outside everything here, in the infinite greatness of His own triumph, and you are conscious that you share in it all because you belong to Him. You have found a Person outside everything here who is infinitely more to your heart than all the things of earth. You have stepped on to the shore of a new world and found yourself supremely happy there, and the old world is totally eclipsed and superseded. It is "the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals" (Jer. 2:2). There is One "Whom having not seen, ye love; in Whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Pet. 1:8). The vain things that have charmed you are forgotten, or only remembered with shame. You gladly accept a part in the rejection of Christ here because of the satisfaction you have found in Him on the other side. I trust many of you have known the reality of such a moment in your history. Now that is the true beginning of a Christian, and the Spirit of God is jealous over us that these affections should be maintained in freshness and fervency in our souls. It is thus_and only thus_that Christ has His true satisfaction in us, for if the day of espousal yields deep and holy joy to us, it yields a deeper and a fuller joy to Him whose matchless love has drawn forth the responsive affection of our hearts. It is "the day of his espousals, … the day of the gladness of his heart" (Song of Solomon 3:11).

We can easily understand that if the devil has succeeded in turning Christ out of this world, it will be no pleasure to him to see a people here to whose hearts Christ is everything. Therefore it is his great object to corrupt our minds from simplicity as to the Christ; and this he seeks to accomplish, not by an open attack upon Christ, but "as the serpent beguiled Eve through subtilty." He had introduced among the saints at Corinth men who pretended to be the apostles of Christ, and had all the appearance of ministers of righteousness (2 Cor. 11:12-15). These men were going about amongst the saints discrediting Paul, and under a great show of doing the Lord’s work they were craftily bringing in fleshly and worldly principles; and so far as they were accepted and tolerated, the saints’ minds were corrupted from simplicity as to the Christ. I dare say they were careful not to assail what we call foundation truths. The devil knows better than to put in the thick end of the wedge first. It would not do for them to show their colors openly at first; but everything would be modified, and more or less humanized, and stripped of its proper force and bearing.

I am sure this is of great importance to us all, for I think we should all be prepared to admit that there is a great lack of the simplicity of affection to which Christ in resurrection is everything. The question arises, Why is it so? Why do saints who have known what it was to be espoused unto Christ get so cold in their affections? How are they brought to be satisfied and comfortable again in worldly and carnal things? I do not believe that any person who had known what it was to be espoused unto Christ would go in for worldliness until his mind had been corrupted by something that lessened his judgment as to what the world is. Before the outward departure the corrupting influence is at work within; the mind is being occupied and permeated with thoughts and principles that connect themselves with man and with things here, and all this is done in such a subtle way that very often no alarm is felt in the conscience during the process. It is a solemn thing to say, but I believe that the decline of affection for Christ, and the corrupting process which precedes that decline, can often be traced to the influence of ministry that is not on the line or in the current of the Spirit of God. I think the chapter before us shows plainly that there are two kinds of ministry:the true and the false, that which is of Christ and the Spirit, and that which is of Satan, the one flatly opposed in its tendency and effect to the other. All true ministry in the power of the Spirit tends to draw our hearts away from man and from things here to Christ in resurrection. False ministry occupies us with man and with things here, and hence draws our hearts away from Christ, for He can only be known as outside everything here, in resurrection.

If we wake up and find that we have left our first love, have lost our affection for Christ, may we immediately turn to the Lord seeking restoration to Himself. It is important to realize that we are as dependent on the Lord for restoration when we wander as we were at the beginning for salvation. How sweet to know that He does not, and will not, give us up. The secret of all His gracious dealings with us lies in the fact that He loves us, and nothing but love will satisfy love. He is jealous over us; He must have the affection of our hearts.

I know that when the heart has long been a stranger to the joy of first love, there is a great tendency to settle down and go on with things as they are, as though it were hopeless to expect to be restored. I am sure that if the Lord gives your heart a fresh consciousness that He really loves you, that despairing and depressing idea will be banished from your soul. You will awake to the blessed reality of the fact that He yearns over you in rich and boundless love, and that He is ready to lead you into communion with Himself in the judgment of the things that have turned you aside, and of yourself for giving them a place in your thoughts. Your heart will leap for joy to think that His love is really unchanged. Thus restored, "first love," with all that it means for you and for Him, will again fill your heart. You will sing as in the days of your youth. You will come back with a subdued and chastened spirit_with a humbled heart and a broken will_to the joy of that moment of espousal when Christ was everything to your heart. C.A. Coates

FRAGMENT
Jesus! Thou art enough
The mind and heart to fill;
Thy patient life_to calm the soul,
Thy love_its fear dispel.

O fix our earnest gaze
So wholly, Lord, on Thee,
That, with Thy beauty occupied,
We elsewhere none may see.

If, as sinners, we have been at the feet of the Saviour discovering that, in spite of all our sins, He loves us and has died for us, then if we are to make spiritual progress_if we are to be "meet for the Master’s use and prepared unto every good work"_the one thing needful, as believers, is to take our place at His feet and hear His word.

This plain but important truth is brought before us in the scene described in the five closing verses of the tenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Journeying on His way to Jerusalem, the Lord came to a certain village, and we are told that a certain woman named Martha received Him into her house. She gladly opened her home to the Lord, and at once set herself to minister to His bodily needs. This indeed was right and beautiful in its place; and yet the story clearly shows that there was much of self in Martha’s service. She did not like to have all the burden of this service, and felt grieved that she was left to serve alone. There was one thing lacking in her service.

The one thing needful_the one thing that Martha missed_was to sit at the feet of Jesus and hear His word. She loved the Lord, and with all her energy she zealously set herself to serve the Lord; but her zeal was not according to knowledge. She set herself to work without having first been in the company of the Lord, and in communion with the Lord, and therefore without being instructed in the mind of the Lord through the word of the Lord. As a result she was distracted with much serving and "careful and troubled about many things," complaining about her sister, and even entertaining the thought that the Lord was indifferent to her labors.

Alas! do we not, at times, act like Martha? We may take up service according to our own thoughts, or under the direction of others. From morning to night we may busy ourselves in a continual round of activity, and yet neglect the one thing needful_to be alone with the Lord, and in communion with Him hear His word and learn His mind. Little wonder that we get distracted and "troubled about many things," and complain to others. How true it is that it is easier to spend whole days in a round of busy service, than half an hour alone with Jesus.

In Mary we see a believer who chose the "good part." Sometimes it is said that Mary chose the better part, as if Martha’s part was good, but Mary’s was better. It is not thus that the Lord speaks. He definitely says that Mary’s part was "that good part," for she chose the "one thing . . . needful"_to sit at His feet and hear His word.

Clearly, then, Mary had a keener perception of the desires of the heart of Christ than her sister. One has said, "Martha’s eye saw His weariness, and would give to Him; Mary’s faith apprehended His fulness and would draw from Him."

Martha thought of the Lord only as One who was requiring something from us; Mary discerned that, beyond all the service of which He is so worthy, the desire of His heart, and the great purpose of His coming into this world, was to communicate something to us. "Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ," and at the end of His path He could say, "I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me" (John 17:8). By the Word of God salvation is brought to us (Acts 13:26); by the Word of God we are born again (1 Pet. 1:23); by the Word of God we are cleansed from defilement (John 15:3); by the Word of God we are sanctified (John 17:17); and by the Word of God we are instructed in all the truth of God "that the man of God may be . . . , throughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3:15-17).

May we not say that Martha set herself to do good works without having been thoroughly furnished by the word of God? In Mary we learn that communion with Christ, and instruction in the word of Christ must precede all service that is acceptable to Christ. He delights that, in His own time and way, we should minister to Him; but, above all, He delights to have us in His company that He may minister to us.
Mary chose this good part and the Lord will not allow any complaints by her sister to belittle her choice_it shall not be taken from her. So, again, in the last days of the Church’s history on earth, the Lord commends the Philadelphians, not for any great activity that would give them a prominent place before the world, but that they had "kept His Word." Like Mary of old they set greater store on His Word than their works. It is not, indeed, that Mary was without works, for having chosen "that good part," in due time the Lord commends her for doing "a good work" (Matt. 26:10). So with the Philadelphian saints, the Lord who commended them for keeping His Word is the One who can say, "I know thy works."

Of old, Moses could say of the Lord, "Yea, He loved the people; all His saints are in Thy hand; and they sat down at Thy feet; every one shall receive of Thy words" (Deut. 33:3). This presents a lovely picture of the true position of God’s people_held in the hand of the Lord; sitting at the feet of the Lord; and listening to the words of the Lord. They are secure in His hand; at rest at His feet; and learning His mind. May we, then, choose this good part, and in due course do the good work.