LET us look at the woman in the Pharisee’s house, washing the Lord’s feet; and at His words: “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.”
Fruit-bearing is only the result of abiding in Him, and the real abiding in Him is the being constantly occupied with Him. We get cold if not occupied with Him. Take one day of our mind’s course; there are the wanderings and there is the inward spring of evil. It is a course of wandering from the ‘Lord in thought and mind—the effect of being out of communion with the Lord—that is so important whether we fall or not. A person may be walking in a right way, and fall by accident, as we say. But a person may start in a wrong way, and his whole course be wrong; there is a constant going the wrong way; and there is a falling when in the right way. Real fruit-bearing can only be when in the right way, that is, when walking near Him.
The poor woman would not have been in the Pharisee’s house if Jesus had not been there. It is nice to be where Jesus is. I must be in heaven in heart and mind. But wherever He is, there is no obstacle which can keep out love. She loved Him for His grace, and for that which led Him to meet her need. His living Person was there, and she was drawn to Him. There was that in Him which drew her. It is a comparatively easy thing to walk in the presence of one we are drawn to.
If in our own esteem we are sinners above others, and if there is a deep work of God in our souls, and a deep sense of His grace, it does not matter where Jesus is, we shall be there. Where there is one of His little ones we shall find him out, however poor and uninstructed. Where He is, and where His are, there shall we be too. And the result of being with Him is conformity to Him. Love attracts to His presence; and in His presence we must be like Him. And to be like Him is to be holy, and the end everlasting life.
He did not say, “Go and sin no more.” No, the attractiveness of His presence kept her from that. Her forgiveness—and what that would cost Him!—even absence from the bosom of the Father, the bearing of sin to One so holy—only her own vileness, if she had the sense of these things would keep her, would attract her to Jesus; and us, too. And in abiding in Jesus there is fruit-bearing. Having our minds always in fellowship with Him, the course of our minds will then be fruit-bearing, and the course of our walk will correspond. And thus, and only thus, it is that we shall be kept from falling. May we, in the spirit of this poor thing, not be unable to keep out of His presence. G. J.