Abiding, Part 2, by Alex Mathew

Abiding-Part 2

Before something beautiful and good as abiding can happen the bad and the ugly should be removed from me. Before abiding can happen pride and bitterness have to be given up. Pride is the callous that comes in between the stock and the scion. It prevents a perfect blend. I have to be on my knees before the all-forgiving God for a cleansing of my sins; pride including, before I am readied for the graft. His blood washes away all my sins.

Abiding for me is not a search for significance in the worldly sense. I am not on a run to be with the big to feel big in the vulgar political sense either. I am what I am by virtue of what He IS. I do not have to search for any additional significance. I desire nothing more than the relationship with the great “I AM WHO I AM” If I may be of some use to the great ‘I AM’, my life has attained its zenith.

The term abiding is a grand expression of an existential process in which I become joined to my Lord, my God, and my Life which defy description. Beautiful, majestic, overwhelming, staggering, powerful, revolutionary, engulfing, revitalizing, restoring, restful are some feeble expressions. None of these words bring out the awe I experience. I in Him! Incredible! Christ in me, even in me! I find no words that adequately express the experience of abiding. Let me only quote the Lord and say “come and see”

Where do I go and what do I see?

What do I experience where I go?

There is no place else for me to go other than ‘in Him’

In Him I find peace and rest which is on promise.

He says “Come to me…” and receive rest and peace, not like as the world gives.

 

The power and profundity of rest and peace He gives are felt experiences in Abiding.

As love, peace is not a commodity; a truth that is lost on a large section of our community.

Peace is on sale and seekers after peace get serviced to receive ‘peace’ of certain definition.

A Psychiatrist friend and a co-worker of mine in Africa have this story. A harried mother of a hyperactive 2 year old once approached him. She told him “Dr., my 2 year old son is impossible. He gives me no peace of mind. Can you please do something? Perhaps talk to him or give him some medication? I am at the end of my tether. Please do something. I need peace” My friend told her that’s no problem. He gave her prescription for ‘Diazepam’- 10mg twice a day. “Nothing for the boy?” she asked the Doc. “Nope, this should do the trick,” he said. After two weeks the doctor met her in a store and asked her “How is the boy?” Her response was a bit delayed but pointed; “Which boy?” She was in perfect ‘peace’ about her situation.

That is ‘peace’ of a kind. Some folks do not even go to a professional for dispensable ‘peace’; they go straight to the bottle/bar/brothel/club/pub/any place, where ‘peace’ of their choice is on sale. The need is so pronounced and vending so widespread. Many make a living out of this ‘peace’ trade, Psychologists, Psychiatrists, Psychotherapists, Counselors of varied compulsions, Healers of all hues, Astrologers, Soothsayers, Witch doctors, Voodoo masters and the like. The peace purchased from these practioners have a spell lesser than the lifespan of your telephone calling card.

The peace that passeth understanding guards our hearts and minds IN Christ Jesus. (Phil.4: 7)

It is very interesting to scan the rendering of the same verse in by Eugene Peterson in ‘The Message’. “It is wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life”

Displacement happens when something evicts the earlier occupant. Christ enters the inside of an Abiding believer’s heart. It displaces the previous occupant ‘worry about everything’ and replaces the resident worry with peace. In Abiding, Christ Jesus then becomes the resident comforter and peace giver. He only is able to give the ‘peace that passeth understanding’, a peace that will prevail against all disturbances and worries. That is the peace you and I are looking for and that is the peace freely available in Abiding!

Q. What is your preferred ‘rest and peace’?

Options;            Peace and rest on sale.

Peace and rest in Abiding.