MEDITATION:
Written by Jon Payne, a contemporary pastor, a lecturer in practical theology, and author.
Genuine Christians abide in Christ. Abiding in Christ means making Him the object of your faith. True faith accepts, receives, and rests upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life (Westminster Confession of Faith 14.2). We abide in Christ by exercising faith in Him, and nothing else—not family connections, moral strivings, or religious experiences. In addition, true faith does not seek Christ in the realm of personal subjectivity. No, genuine, Spirit-wrought faith clings to Christ through objective means—the Word, sacraments, and prayer. God has attached His gospel promises to these means, and through them He communicates Christ and all of His saving benefits to His flock (Westminster Shorter Catechism 88). The early church believed this … To abide in Jesus is to devote oneself to the ordinary means of grace… Therefore, dear Christian, abide in Christ. Devote yourself afresh to the means by which He promises to give you Himself.
PRAYER:
Written by Megan Johnson, a contemporary church planter and author.
Jesus – thank you that you remained perfectly in loving union with God. It’s amazing to think about you becoming human as we are, being made like us, being tempted and suffering so that you could be our faithful high priest, who sympathizes with our weaknesses. Yet, sympathizing as One who remained perfectly sinless, fighting hard a battle that we so often fail to fight. I thank you that I am hidden in you and clothed in your righteousness, and in your perfect abiding. But I confess my lack of abiding in you – my forgetfulness to live out the reality of my union with you. Show me where I unite myself more with my outward circumstances than with you, where I let go of your peace and enter the striving of productivity, self-righteousness, or my fears and insecurities. I repent of not thinking you are enough. I repent of not believing your grace will be enough for the future. I repent of not making time alone with you a priority – filling my mind and heart with the Words of life – your Word that sustains life. Thank you that your mercy is more than I could ever imagine. Thank you that your kindness leads me to repentance, and for your overwhelming grace and forgiveness for me in Christ. I trust He is enough. Your grace is sufficient. May I abide well, being rooted and strengthened in your love, not striving to enter a pseudo-rest of my own making, but always striving to keep a quiet heart and enter your rest you secured for me. In Jesus’s name, amen.
Pathways Press.com 