ABIDE
IN CHRIST by Andrew Murray
Day
7
As
Your Wisdom
“But
of (God) you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us WISDOM from
God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—” (1
Corinthians 1:30)
JESUS
CHRIST is not only our Priest to purchase us and our King to secure
us, but also our Prophet to reveal to us the salvation which God has
prepared for those who love Him. Just as at the creation the light
was first called into existence, so that in it all God's other works
might have their life and beauty, so in our text wisdom is mentioned
first as the treasury in which the three precious gifts that follow
are to be found. The life is the light of man; it is in revealing to
us, and making us behold the glory of God in His own face that Christ
makes us partakers of eternal life. It was by the tree of knowledge
that sin came. It is through the knowledge that Christ gives that
salvation comes. He is made by God unto us wisdom. In Him are hidden
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
And
of God you are in Him and only have to abide in Him to be made
partaker of these treasures of wisdom. In Him you are, and in Him the
wisdom is. Dwelling in Him, you dwell in the very fountain of all
light. Abiding in Him, you have Christ the wisdom of God leading your
whole spiritual life. He is ready to communicate, in the form of
knowledge, just as much as is necessary for you to know. Christ is
made for us wisdom. You are in Christ.
It
is this connection between what Christ has been made to us by God,
and how we have it only as also being IN Him, that we must learn to
understand better. We will therefore see that the blessings prepared
for us in Christ cannot be obtained as special gifts in answer to
prayer apart from the abiding in Him. The
answer to each prayer must come in the closer union and the deeper
abiding in Him.
All other gifts are treasured up in Him, the Unspeakable Gift,
including the gift of wisdom and knowledge.
How
often have you longed for wisdom and spiritual understanding that you
might know God better! To know Him is life eternal! Abide in Jesus.
Your life in Him will lead you to that fellowship with God in which
the only true knowledge of God is to be had. His love, His power, His
infinite glory will, as you abide in Jesus, be revealed as it has
not entered into the heart of man to conceive. You may not be able to
grasp it with the understanding, or to express it in words, but the
knowledge which is deeper than thoughts or words will be given —the
knowing of God which comes of being known OF HIM. "We preach
Christ crucified...to those who are called...Christ (is) the power of
God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:23, 24)
Would
you gladly “count all things loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Jesus Christ (your) Lord” (Phil. 3:8)? Abide in
Jesus, and be found in Him. You will know Him in the power of His
resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings. Following Him, you
will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. It is
only when God shines into the heart, and Christ Jesus dwells there,
that the light of the knowledge of God in the face of Christ can be
seen (See 2 Cor. 4:6).
Would
you understand His blessed work as He worked it on earth, or now
works it from heaven by His Spirit? Would you know how Christ can
become our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption? It
is just as bringing, and revealing, and communicating these that He
became unto us wisdom from God. There are a thousand questions that
at times come up, and the attempt to answer them becomes a weariness
and a burden. This is only true because you have forgotten you are in
Christ, whom God has made to be your wisdom. Let it be your first
care to abide in Him in undivided fervent devotion of heart. When the
heart and the life are right, rooted in Christ, knowledge will come
in such measure as Christ's own wisdom sees fit. And without such
abiding in Christ the knowledge does not really profit, but is often
most harmful. The soul satisfies itself with thoughts which are only
the forms and images of truth, without receiving the truth itself in
its power. God's way is always first to give us the thing itself,
even though it is only a seed. He then will give us the life and the
power, and finally the knowledge itself. Man seeks the knowledge
first, and often, alas, never gets beyond it! God gives us Christ,
and in Him are hid the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Oh, let us
be content to possess Christ, to dwell in Him, to make Him our life,
and only in a deeper searching into Him, to search and find the
knowledge we desire. Such knowledge is life indeed.
Therefore,
believer, abide in Jesus as your wisdom, and expect from Him most
confidently whatever teaching you may need for a life to the glory of
the Father. In all that concerns your spiritual life, abide in Jesus
as your wisdom. The life you have in Christ is a thing of infinite
sacredness, far too high and holy for you to know how to act it out.
It is He alone who can guide you, with a secret spiritual instinct,
to know what is fitting for your dignity as a child of God. He will
guide you also to know what will help and what will hinder your inner
life, and especially to know how to abide in Him. Do not think of it
as a mystery or a difficulty you must solve. Questions might come up
as to the possibility of abiding perfectly and uninterruptedly in
Him, and of really obtaining all the blessing that comes from it. Yet
always remember this... He knows, all is perfectly clear to Him, and
He is your wisdom. Just as much as you need to know and are capable
of comprehending will be communicated, if you only trust Him. Never
think of the riches of wisdom and knowledge hidden in Jesus as
treasures without a key, or of your way as a path without a light.
Jesus your wisdom is guiding you in the right way, even when you do
not see it.
In
all your dealings with the blessed Word, remember the same
truth...abide in Jesus, your wisdom. Study much to know the written
Word, but study more to know the living Word, in whom you are of God.
Jesus, the wisdom of God, is only known by a life of unspoken
confidence and obedience. The words He speaks are spirit and life to
those who live in Him. Therefore, each time you read, or hear, or
meditate upon the Word, be careful to take up your true position.
Realize first your oneness with Him who is the wisdom of God. Know
yourself to be under His direct and special training. Go to the Word
abiding in Him, the very fountain of Divine light. in His light you
will see light.
In
all your daily life, its ways and its work, abide in Jesus as your
wisdom. Your body and your daily life share in the great salvation.
In Christ, the wisdom of God, provision has been made for their
guidance too. Your body is His temple, your daily life the sphere for
glorifying Him. It is to Him a matter of deep interest that all your
earthly concerns should be rightly guided. Only trust His
encouragement, believe His love, and wait for His guidance. It will
be given. As you abide in Him, your mind will be calmed and freed
from passion, and your judgment will be cleared and strengthened.
The light of heaven will shine on your earthly things, and your
prayer for wisdom, like Solomon's, will be fulfilled above what you
ask or think.
And
so, especially in any work you do for God, abide in Jesus as your
wisdom. "We are...created in Christ Jesus for good works, which
God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).
Let all fear or doubt - lest we should not know exactly what these
works are - be put far away. In Christ we are created for them. He
will show us what they are, and how to do them. Cultivate the habit
of rejoicing in the assurance that the Divine wisdom is guiding you,
even where you do not yet see the way.
All
that you can wish to know is perfectly clear to Him. As Man - as
Mediator - He has access to the counsels of Deity and to the secrets
of Providence. He will work these things in your interest and on your
behalf. If you will only trust Him fully, and abide in Him entirely,
you can be confident of having perfect guidance.
Yes,
abide in Jesus as your wisdom. Seek to maintain the spirit of waiting
and dependence, that always seeks to learn, and will not move unless
and until the heavenly light leads you on. Withdraw yourself from all
needless distraction, close your ears to the voices of the world, and
be as a submissive learner, always listening for the heavenly wisdom
the Master has to teach. Surrender all your own wisdom. Seek a deep
conviction of the utter blindness of the natural understanding in the
things of God. Wait for Jesus to teach and to guide you as to what
you have to believe and what you have to do. Remember that the
teaching and guidance does not come from outside of you. It is by His
life within us that the Divine wisdom does His work. Withdraw
frequently with Him into the inner chamber of the heart, where the
gentle voice of the Spirit is only heard when all is still. Hold fast
with unshaken confidence, even in the midst of darkness and apparent
desertion, His own assurance that He is the light and the leader of
His own. And, above all, live day by day in the blessed truth that,
as He Himself, the living Christ Jesus, is your wisdom, your first
and last care must ALWAYS be this alone—to abide in Him. Abiding in
Him, His wisdom will come to you as the spontaneous outflowing of a
life rooted in Him. I am - I abide in Christ, who was made unto us
wisdom from God. Wisdom WILL be given to me.
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