Abiding in Christ

 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 8
The little child is not self-confident; it fears the untried and unknown; it seeks the companionship of mother or friend, and it is willing to be led. O for the child-heart, with its simplicity and trust-its unbounded faith and lovely guilelessness! Many strong men may read these words, who glory in their strength, and they must be converted and become as little children if they would learn the secret of abiding in Him.
It is said of the great soldier Naaman that "his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child" (2 Kings 5:1414Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. (2 Kings 5:14)). It was a splendid combination! The stalwart form of a man was combined with the soft, sweet flesh of childhood. And these qualities should blend in each of us -strong and simple, manly and childlike, like David, the champion of Israel whose heart was not haughty, or exercised in matters too great, and was like a child weaned from its mother. Such are counted by the Father as His babes, fed with the sincere milk of the Word, taught secrets which are hid from the wise and prudent, and instructed in the art of abiding in Him.
Abiding in Christ is the result of continual watching and self-discipline, the outcome of the blessed Spirit's tender influence on the inner life. It is not easy at first to get the vine to entwine itself in some chosen direction. The string and hammer and knife must be used; but in time it is satisfied to adopt the new and forced attitude. And the clinging of the soul to Christ comes as the result of continual self-discipline beneath the culture of the Spirit of God.