Forgiving... and remaining

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgives you.                     Eph. 4.32

We have been forgiven in Christ. This is the fundamental truth of Christian living. We are sinners who have been forgiven. And we are invited, nay exhorted, to follow Christ. We need to forgive, freely and without fear. Forgiveness frees us into the fullness of a life in Christ.

As I adopt a lifestyle of forgiveness and cultivate a forgiving nature (for I believe I can choose to do this) so other aspects of my nature will change and grow. I will find myself seeing others with the compassion of Christ (this might take time), and I can look more kindly on others (this will need practice). But I remember that all things are possible with God, and I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. This surely is the key. I press in to Jesus. I seek and ask for His strengthening of me. I receive from Him. Indeed I look to be infilled with the fullness of His presence in me.

John reminds me of my interwoven-ness with Christ. He is the vine and I am a branch of the vine (John 15.5). He chose me (I get excited at this), and He appointed me to bear lasting fruit (John 15.6). If I remain in Him and He remains in me, I will bear much fruit. And, indeed, apart from Him I can do nothing (John 15.5).

I am aware, right now, that Jesus exhorts me to remain in Him first. His words are:

“If a man remains in me and I in him.” (John 15.5)

I do not wish to play semantics with this phrase, but it clearly indicates that as I remain in Him, He will remain in me. It looks like the choice is mine. Do I wish to seek Him out to remain in Him? Do I want to follow Him and allow Him to exercise full reign and control in my life? Do I truly mean it when I say ‘not my will but Yours, not what I want but what you want!’ Do I mean all in these things? You bet I do! And why? The answer is simply that I am nothing without Him. He is my all, my reason for living. Without Jesus I have no purpose in life. I might as well be dead, and this is horrific to me, for I don’t want to be dead and without Jesus. No, living without Christ is not an option. I will live with Him, for Him and in Him. And with Him living in me.

This is also a state of being. Like so many other mortals I have, for a long time, been fixated with a state of doing. And God has made it so clear to me that He wants me to ‘be’ before I do anything. As ‘I am’ then He will occasion the doing. I can only truly be when I am in Him, and he is fully in me.

Lord, Mighty God,

I come to You in all the fullness of surrender that I can muster. You are everything to me and I lay myself humbly and expectantly at Your feet. I glorify You this day. I rejoice in the sunshine that is without and the revelation that is within.

And what is this revelation? I think it’s the wonder of the true realisation that I am your child. I am Yours! I shout with joy in my total release of myself to You. Take me, my God, and let me be, let me truly be – a living, vibrant, true, real, and effective witness for Jesus.

I am the branch that is grafted firmly into the vine. I seek the life-giving force, the Spirit infilling that comes from the Jesus vine. Feed me, nurture me, grow me.

There may be a price to pay. Make me willing, Lord. In Your holy power change me, and use me if You choose. I ask all these things, believing, in Jesus’ Name.                                  Amen.