by C. E.
Orr
THE MORE ABUNDANT LIFE
Feed thou, today, upon the holy Book;
Be strong to
conquer ‘mid the raging strife:
Help other struggling
souls to win today,
For thou shalt never pass again this
way.
Feed thou, today, upon the holy Book;
Be strong to
make thy path without a crook;
Lend thou a hand to
others lest they stray;
For thou shalt never pass again
this way.
O soul of mine, be ever wide awake;
Do all within thy
power, for Jesus’ sake,
To feed some hungry, fainting
soul today,
For thou shalt never pass again this way.
--CHARLES E. ORR
“I am come that they might have
life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John
10:10. These words of Jesus furnish the foundation on which
this booklet is builded. The great Judge of all men had
passed the sentence of death upon all the race of man. (See
Rom. 5:12). Jesus came to revoke this death sentence and to
give life unto men. He says to all, ‘Verily, verily, I say
unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that
sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation. but is passed from death unto life.” (St. John
5:24). Passing from death unto life is a wonderful
experience, but millions of earth have experienced it.
Nature furnishes many an illustration of this marvelous
transition. We see it all around us in the springtime. We
behold it when we see the caterpillar pass from its coma
state in the cocoon into the butterfly life. This experience
Jesus calls, being “born again.” (See John 3:7). An angel
speaking to the virgin Mary said, “Thou shalt bring forth a
Son, and shalt call His name Jesus.” Luke 1:31. He told her
that the Holy Spirit should come upon her, and the power of
the Highest should overshadow her and Christ should be born
of her. She willingly yielded her life to this wonderful and
miraculous work. The Holy Spirit took the seed of God and
brought it in contact with the seed of the woman and Christ
was born of her.
All men are highly favored of God. He will send the Holy
Spirit to every one, and all those who will yield their
wills and life to Him the Holy Spirit will bring their
spirit in contact with the Spirit of God and Christ will be
formed in them. Certainly it is a marvelous experience, but
it is the way and only way to get into possession of that
life that Jesus came to give. This is the all-important
event in the life of man. Except we be born of the Spirit it
would be far better had we never been born of the flesh.
In the words of our foundation text, Jesus teaches, not
only that man can have life, but also that he can have it
more abundantly. By this He means that there is to be a
constant development of this life. When man receives this
life, if it is allowed to develop according to its nature he
will daily grow up into the more abundant life. To aid
saints to grow into more abundant life as the days come and
go, is the message of this little book. May God bless it to
that end. Our spirit must be brought into contact with the
Spirit of God that we might have life. This is what
constitutes a Christian. Our spirit must be kept in close
contact with God’s Spirit that we may retain this life.
There needs be as constant a flow of the life of God through
Christ into our soul that we may live and grow as the branch
has of the life of the vine. Jesus is the uniting link
between God and man. He touches God on the one hand, and man
on the other and in and through Him we are kept in
adjustment with God. In Christ we are made new creatures; we
have a new life, and have a fresh start in humanity.
Christianity is not a cold, staid, formal, and exact
exterior, but an inward life. The external, by culture, may
be brought into quite a degree of perfection, hut this will
only be delusive except it flows joyously from the perfect
life of Christ in the soul. We may be very zealous for the
cause of God, and this zeal may serve as a cloak to hide the
coldness of the inward life. God wants the worker more than
the work. He wants our love more than our labor, our hearts
rather than our hands. His kingdom is advanced far more by
what we are than by what we do. We may do ever so much, but
if our doing is not the outfiowing of the cheering, joyous,
hopeful life of Christ at the center of the heart our work
will be destructive instead of constructive. If we would
reproduce the life of Christ in our life the interior
spiritual union with God must be sustained and intensified
in our souls.
Those who walk close with God tell us that there is a
woeful lack of spiritual power among the people of God
today. They say that there are but few who enter into that
spirit of prayer that filled the life of Jesus in those
early morning hours when praying in that solitary place.
They tell us, however, that there are a few rare souls that
are panting after God, and who are lifted up, by grace, into
the atmosphere of a sincere, devout life. There are those
who know how to leave all earthly things behind, and in the
Spirit find heavenly sweetness in a quiet hour with God.
These are earth’s choicest jewels upon which God has set His
love. These are the souls that make God their first end, and
their service to God their second end, and because of this
they keep themselves unwearied and unworned in their
service. They seek to be good more than do good, for they
know except they be good their doing is not as good as it
should be. These are the souls that go apart from the world
and in the solemn hush of prayer fill their souls with God
and then every act of their service is fragrant with His
presence.
All life was created with an end in view. God has
garnered in every seed hidden principles of life which will
develop after its kind. There are forces in all life which
struggle to bring that life to its designed end. There is
power in life. It is a mistake to seek after power. It
exposes the soul to deception. Seek after life. The measure
of your spiritual life is the measure of your spiritual
power. Where there is little life there is little power. If
you do not have power with God in prayer, if you can not
lift your soul up into the presence of God and commune with
Him in closest intimacy, you are wanting in spiritual life.
Something has hindered the development of those life-forces
born into your soul at regeneration. If you are not living a
victorious life amid the annoyances and provocations of
every day life, you need more of that abundant life which
Jesus came to give. You are allowing something to prevent
the principle of life developing after its kind. There is a
block somewhere. The contact with God is broken at some
point; the channel is clogged somewhere. Maybe there has
entered your soul an inclination to go after earthly things.
Maybe you are adorning the body for its sake; or maybe you
get worried and fretted by some of earth’s losses, or seek
enjoyment from the creature rather than the Creator. 0 soul,
flee earthly things, and lay hold on eternal life. A seed is
sown into the ground. It springs into life. There are forces
in that life that push it upward through the crust of earth.
Every day it is on its march toward the end for which it was
created. Those life principles bear it onward and upward
instinctively to its designed end. It rises into the stalk,
the blade, the tassel, and the full ear. The soul in which
has been born the life of Christ contains those principles
and forces that struggle for growth and development. They
are ever reaching up and taking hold on that which will
bring them to maturity. Life links itself with life. The
soul that has the life of Christ is linked with Christ and
longs to rise to the fulness of Him. That life in the egg
shell has power to burst open the door of its prison house
and come forth to a higher state of existence. The soul in
which has sprung up the life that Jesus came to give is
imprisoned here in the body of flesh. While here it is ever
struggling for that higher liberty for which its life calls.
Heavenly life in the soul is not reaching out after earthly
things; it is ever reaching out after that which will carry
it on to the fulness of its type which is Jesus. That soul
is not spending much time, nor is it so greatly interested
in its “earthly house.” It groans and longs for that “house
which is from heaven.” (See 2 Cor. 5:1, 2.) There is a
glorious liberty awaiting the children of God. (Read Rom.
8:21.) It is that liberty the soul will have when it lays
aside this mortal body to be clothed with an immortal body
when this vile body shall be changed and “fashioned like
unto His glorious body.” (Phil 3:21). 0 child of God, make
sure that you have left all earthly things behind, and are
reaching forth to those things that are before; that you are
pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3:13, 14). That “high calling
of God” is the call to that glorious body in which you will
not be seeing through a glass darkly, and shall know even as
you are known. Give diligent heed to the culture of your
life. See that you are rising higher every day into more
abundant life. Beware lest you admit something into your
life that would hinder the growth of your spiritual life.
Give full liberty to those principles and forces of eternal
life in your soul, that they be not hindered in their
reaching out after God. Give full freedom to the Holy Spirit
to work around in your heart producing in you that which is
well pleasing in God’s sight. (See Heb. 13:21.) See that
your spirit is ever the throne-room of God, and that you
enter often into that innermost seclusion and fertilize your
spiritual life by His virtues. If you would be constantly
growing up into more abundant life, you must hide your life
with Christ in God. You must dwell with the Most High in
that secret place where the voices of the world cannot
disturb the sweet, solemn hush of your soul’s communion with
eternal things, and where there is such a sacred calm that
you can hear the whis¬perings of the Holy Spirit as He is
instilling every thought and desire into your life. 0 man of
God, flee earthly things; go often into that solitary place
and sup in holy communion with the gentle Lover of your
soul. Jesus speaks of four things which, if the Christian
would rise higher into that more abundant life, must daily
practice.
The first is:
“COME UNTO ME”
The sinner must come to Jesus that he might find life and
rest. Christ says, “And ye will not come to me, that ye
might have life.” (John 5:40). Reader, is that true with
you? Coming to Jesus to obtain life is only the starting
point in the race along the narrow way to that fullcr life
in our “house which is from heaven.” But after you have
received life there must be a constant, daily com¬ing to
Jesus for the bread of life. Those physical life principles
and forces in the life of children call loudly for such food
as will enable them to develop into higher and stronger
life. The same is true of your spiritual life. It seeks
after and must have nourishment that will expand the life
principles into more vigorous life. This is the only way to
soul rest. If your spiritual life is denied being fed for
only one day you will suffer some loss of full assurance
which is necessary to perfect rest. The growing child is a
heavy feeder. The soul that is in health requires much at
the bosom of God. It can become so habituated to stated
hours for feeding that it will experience an unrest if the
time is passed by. This is true in the life of a child, and
why should it be less true in the spiritual life? And if
regular feeding of the child is necessary to the best
development of its life, why is not the regular feeding of
the soul necessary to its development? We beseech you to not
neglect the proper feeding of your spiritual life.
What is the best soul food? Jesus says. “Man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out
of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). As the body feeds on
bread, so the soul on the Word of God. It was in those early
morning hours in the solitary place and those all night on
the hill sides in prayer to the Father that Jesus fed His
spiritual life. If it was needful for Him to do this, can it
be less for us? Jesus says to us, “As the living Father hath
sent me, and T live by the Father; so he that eateth me,
even he shall live by me.” (John 6:57). The words “hath sent
me” teach us that Christ lived constantly in the thought
that He was sent of God, and that He must always be about
His Father’s business. To do this He must live by the
Father. He must live by His Father’s strength, by His
Father’s will, by His Father’s life. To feed on Christ is to
not live ourselves, but for Christ to live in us. We live by
His strength, we triumph by His power, we pray in His name,
and we do all things for His glory.
To be constantly growing into the more abundant life
there must be a prompt obedience to His every command to
“come.” If you would walk on the water (keep above the
things of the world, and the circumstances of life) you must
heed His word “come.” Christ has the words of eternal life.
In those words are just such nourishment as our spiritual
life demands for its growth and development. “As new born
babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow
thereby.” 1 Pet. 2:2. Moffatt renders this, “Thirst for the
pure, spiritual milk to make you grow up to salvation.” The
word “salvation” here means maturity, or to the fulness of
Christ. To neglect feeding on the word of God is to neglect
the culture of the soul, and the consequence is to soon
become weak and powerless in the Chris¬tian life. To have
power to live a holy life the word of God must be brought
into the heart. (See Psa. 119:11). The words of Jesus must
be eaten in the heart, digested, assimilated, and thrown
into our soul-life. When the oxygen in the air is taken into
the lungs and there thrown into the blood it kindles a fire
and fills us with a physical energy. There are just such
elements in Christ’s word as are adapted to the needs of our
spiritual life. When these elements are brought in contact
with our spiritual life they kindle a fire and fill us with
spiritual energy and power. The great mistake multitudes are
making is that they are feeding their intellectual life
instead of their spiritual life.
How to feed the soul on the word of God, is what many
want to know. We shall tell you in the simplest way we know
how, and that is the way God has taught us. Let there be a
daily reading of the Bible and meditation upon it. Do not
neglect the meditation. You will suffer in your spiritual
life if you do. In proportion as we neglect to meditate on
the word of God we shall be weak in our souls. Remember I do
not say that you must study your Bible. Thousands are
studying it by one and another meth¬od and are growing
powerless in their soul life. There is a vast difference
between studying the Word, and meditating upon it. Study
will bring it into the mind, meditation brings it into the
heart. Beware of those schools, and ‘correspondence courses”
in which you are required to pay a fee for your instruction.
The Holy Spirit must be our Instructor and His instructions
are free. We shall give you five general rules for the
getting of God’s word into the heart. For example, let us
take Matt. 6:24-34. We would advise you to follow no
prescribed course of Bible study given by schools, but you
pray God to guide you in the portion of Scripture for your
meditation. If you follow man’s selection of Scripture you
may miss that por¬tion your soul needs most.
Physicians may prescribe a general course of diet that is
good in a general way, but this is not safe for every one to
follow, for what one needs may be the opposite to the needs
of another. We may write books that are good in a general
way, hut we cannot select the Scripture portions that are
the best for the culture of your spiritual life. What one
needs another may not need. You and the Holy Spirit -your
Teacher---know best the portion of Scripture that will best
meet the needs of your life. Whatever portion of Scripture
God leads you to read, we shall give you five rules for the
reading of it. The Holy Spirit may give you more and other
rules. I am giving you what the Spirit has given me.
First. Read your Scripture selection over carefully and
prayerfully, inviting the Holy Spirit to interpret its
hidden meaning to your understanding. If you are reading
Matt. 6:24-34, we would say that there are depths in these
words that few, if any, have ever descended into. They need
to be read slowly and prayerfully while you ask God to give
you light on their meaning.
Second. Gird up the loins of your mind. Concentrate your
thoughts on the words. Do not let your mind wander. If it
starts to wandering, bring it back. The school boy will have
to do this if he understands his lesson. You must exercise
your will power. If your will power is not exercised it will
not increase, and if your will power is not increased by the
reading of the Bible you are not reading it rightly. Do not
think that you can get much out of reading this Scripture
without great labor. The school boy needs to labor to get
mental food, and you will have to labor to get soul food. It
will cost you some effort to concentrate thoughts and mind
upon your reading, and especially is this true if you have
not been long in Christ’s school.
Third. But you must do more than give the close attention
of your mind to your reading. There must be intention. Do
not forget this. Attention is to study; intention is the
purpose of your study. You are not to study the Bible that
you might be able to preach it, or teach it, but read it for
the purpose of feeding your spiritual life that you might
grow up into the fulness of God. Turn your heart as well as
your mind to the reading. By your spirit take such hold upon
the words in such a way as to make them a part of your life.
Christ’s words are spirit and they are life, and it is only
by your spirit that you can feed on those spiritual words.
Be praying while you are reading. Keep your soul lifted
up to God while you read. Your mind and your heart are to
feed at the same time. You are to read in the spirit.
Reading the Bible is the listening side of prayer. You pray
when you talk to God, and it is no less prayer when you
listen to God talk to you through His word. Reading in the
spirit deepens the union of your spirit with the Spirit of
God. It will loosen the hold earthly things may have upon
you, and deepen your interest in things eternal. It will
bring God near, and reveal Him in wondrous beauty to your
soul. It will fill you with renewed courage and make you
strong on the battlefields of life. It will infuse into your
inmost being a sense of holy fear, and make the acts of life
an act of worship.
Fourth. Set your will, aided by God’s power, to reproduce
in your life what you read in the Book. Jesus says, “Take no
thought about your life, what you shall eat, or drink or
wear.” See that you put into momentary practice what you
have read. It will do you but little good to read the Book
if you do not practice what you read. It is the practicing
that makes you strong. What you ~at of physical food will
give life to your muscles, but if you do not give exercise
to those life forces it will all be lost. You had better not
read the Bible at all than to read it and not practice it.
How much time did Jesus ever spend thinking about what He
should eat and wear? You may say that he had power to get
Him what He needed. But Jesus never used that power out of
God’s ordained way. He went into the field for wheat when He
needed to have wheat to eat. He sent the disciples into the
town to buy food when they needed it. He refused to turn
stones to bread merely for his body’s sake. He did nothing
for His body that He will not do for yours. If you are God’s
consecrated child, your body is His, and He will care for it
as certainly as He cared for His own body. That body that
Jesus lived in while here was no more His own than is your
body, and He loves your body, which is His, as much as He
loved his own. There is a sense in which Jesus took thought
about something to eat. He took enough thought to send the
disciples into the town to buy something to eat, but He was
not all the morning or even an hour or a few minutes
thinking about what they were going to eat. He never took
thought about the future. This means that He never borrowed
any future trouble. He never became anxious about the things
of tomorrow. He sought the kingdom of God and His
righteousness, and God gave Him all He needed for His body.
If you will make God’s business your business, He will make
your business His business, and He will see that you get
along in your business. It is your business to extend God’s
kingdom and righteousness IN your business. Do not leave God
out of your business. This is the way the Book reads, and
you should set your whole heart to reproduce in your life
the truth taught in the Bible. Practice what you read.
Fifth. Be wholly consecrated to God. This, maybe, should
have been our first rule of direction for the reading of the
Bible. It should also be our attitude of heart at the close
of each reading of the Bible. If you have read the Bible
prayerfully and in the spirit-if you have lis¬tened in your
heart to what God has been saying to you through the Bible,
you will feel like renewing your consecration to Him. If in
the reading of God’s word you do not get a clearer vision of
God, you have not received the good you should have. The
Gospel of Christ is a mirror in which we are to see the face
of God. If you have look¬ed into it, and have not seen the
face of God, there is some veil of the flesh over your eyes.
Oh, that flesh! It hinders multitudes from seeing God in His
Book.
As we get a clearer vision of God through the reading of
His word our hearts will respond with a deeper dedication or
consecration to Him, with a prayer that His beauty might be
on us. When we come to see more clearly the beauty of God’s
holiness, our hearts will reach out longingly, pleadingly
that that beauty might grow upon us, and it will. Every
prayerful, meditative reading of the Bible makes us more
like God. Jesus said, “Come unto Me.” Let there be a daily
coming to Jesus through His word. There can be no substitute
for the Bible in the building of yourself up in the more
abundant life. It is the Gospel of Christ that nourishes
spiritual life. The Bible leaves an imprint on your soul by
the prayerful reading of it. Go to your Bible reading with
as full intention to feed your soul as you go to the table
to feed your body. The Word in the heart is the secret of a
holy and victorious life. If you will spend some time each
day feeding the soul upon the “living word” you will be
strong to triumph over every temptation. It will be a power
in you causing you to live above the petty annoyances of
every day life, and fill your soul with peace from heaven.
There needs to be a keener relish for the word of God in
the life of many. Those who sit at the feet of Jesus and
hear His word are not numberless. There are so few who pant
after God’s commandments. (See Psa. 119:131.) Oh, that there
might be a greater panting for the Word of Life! There are
not many who are rising at midnight to give thanks to God
for His judgments. (See Psa. 119 :62.) It is not the
multitudes, even among the holiest of God’s saints, whose
souls are breaking for the longing they have for God’s Word
at all times (See Psa. 119:20); not too many today that are
esteeming the words of God above their necessary food. (Job
23:12). How our souls are grieved to hear of the religious
conventions of the present day where the banquets, the
watermelon cuttings, and sight-seeing trips are the greatest
enticements. Rivers of water run down our eyes because they
esteem the banquet and feasting and the socials more than
they do God’s word. But our heart is still more grieved to
see those of God’s own children so neglectful of the blessed
Bible. God Almighty, give thy people a more ravenous
appetite for Thy Word!
God’s word is a lamp to guide our feet as we are making
the journey of life. (Psa. 119:105). It is a sword to enable
us to conquer the foes that may meet us on life’s way to
heaven. (Eph. 6:17). It is a mirror to reveal ourselves to
ourselves. (James 1:23, 25). It is a water to cleanse the
soul and keep it pure. (Eph. 5:26). It is milk to nourish
the soul. (1 Pet. 2:2). It is meat to invigorate. (Heb.
5:14). It is honey to delight. (Psa. 119: 103). We beseech
you, holy brethren, to keep an intense love in your heart
for the Bible. Do not neglect to feed daily upon its
sustaining food. Pray the Holy Spirit to bring it to your
heart with power as you read it. You need to be greatly
alarmed if your heart is getting calloused so the Word of
God does not make much impression upon it. The finger of God
wrote on stone tables in the law age, but now under grace
the Holy Spirit inscribes God’s laws only on melted and
tender hearts. Jesus, help us.
The second word that Jesus gives by way of inviting us on
to more abundant life is,
LEARN OF ME
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of ME.” (Matt. 11; 29).
To come unto Christ is not merely to come near Him, or into
His presence, but to come into Him-into His heart. To
“learn” of Him is not to learn about Him, or of Him, but to
learn Him. In speaking of the sad state of the Gentiles the
apostle in writing to the saints at Ephesus said, “But ye
have not so learned Christ.” (Eph. 4:20). Those who are well
acquainted with the oldest Greek manuscripts say that words
“not so” are not found in this sentence; it would,
therefore, read, “But ye have learned Christ.” This gives
better sense to the reading. Learning Christ changes things.
The better we learn Him the more we are changed. Those who
learn Him do not walk as do the Gentiles.
The exhortation of Peter to Christians is to “grow in
grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18). This is the way up into the more
abundant life. To be a strong, vigorous saint there needs to
be a constant learning of Christ. We must ever be knowing
Him better. To the soul that values its spirit¬ual life,
this is worth more than all else in the world. Paul says, “I
count all things but loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Phil. 3:8). We shall
have occasion to refer to this text later.
To learn Christ is not to have Him revealed TO us, but IN
US. (See Gal. 1:16). No one can learn another any thing of
Christ. We may teach each other, but we can not learn each
other. Every one must learn Him for themselves. You must put
your mind, and heart in such a prayerful, spiritual,
receptive attitude toward God that the Holy Spirit can come
and reveal Christ to you in the se¬cret depths of your soul.
“There is a blest pavilion,
A sacred inner court,
The place of God’s own dwelling,
With all the world
shut out.
Oh sweet and tranquil home
Where only God is known.”
God can make Himself known to us only in the “inner
court” of our own spirit. It is there and there only that
the Holy Spirit can give you a sense of Christ’s purity; it
is only there the you can have sweet tastes of His love; it
is only there that you can behold His glory. 0 soul, it is
there and only there that you can truly know Him; and to
know Him is life eternal. (See John 17:3). A sister gives
this testimony of her experiences as she sat holding the
hand of a dying saint. She says, “As her hap. py spirit took
its flight there came a sense of God’s glory and of I-us
pleasure in the death of this saint, into my soul that I
cannot describe. For several days I was constantly sensible
of the presence of heavenly beings; and it seemed that the
veil that divided me from them was exceedingly thin. I
seemed to hear in my soul the songs of an in¬numerable
company of angels as they welcomed this happy saint into her
eternal home.” This sister, in this experience learned
Christ as He can not be learned in the seminary, the
college, or by correspondence courses. It is not our purpose
to discuss the advantages and the disadvantages of these
different channels of teaching Christ and His Word, only to
say that the general tenor of the Scripture tells us that it
is the tendency of these courses to hide Christ from the
soul. Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,
but he must needs get to the backside of the desert to know
God. Paul was schooled at the feet of Gamaliel, but he needs
spend three years in the desert of Arabia to learn Christ.
It is only when the Spirit of the living God imprints Him on
the fleshly table of our heart that we can know Him.
Let us study the words, “take my yoke upon you.” Jesus
tells us that this is the way we can learn of Him. You can
learn what Jesus is-learn His nature, His character-only by
taking His yoke upon you. You can be told and you can read
in the Bible that “God is love,” but you can know this for
yourself only by taking Christ’s yoke upon you. Then, what
does it mean to take this yoke upon us? It means yokeship,
and yokeship means fellowship. It means that we are to have
a like nature or life with Him so that we can be fitly
joined with Him, and pull with Him in all His interests. It
means to work for Christ and with Christ in the extension of
His interests in this present world. Do you grasp the
thought? You can learn Christ only as you pull with him. You
yoke up with Jesus and pull with Him in His great work of
saving souls, of healing the sick, of helping the poor, of
spreading the Gospel, and leading the saints on to more
abundant life, and you will learn more of Jesus in one day
than you could ever learn in theological courses. When a
company of people are yoked with Christ, and all pulling
with Him, they are all pulling together. This is the Church
of God. Every member in the Church of God is yoked with
Christ and they are pulling together with Him, and pulling
to¬gether in His ways. When one or a few begin to pull their
way, then there is trouble and confusion. There is scarcely
any project of any importance but has some organized system
of association to further its interests. Now Jesus has
organized His Church for the purpose of furthering His
interests in the world among men. Please make a note of
this. To learn Christ is to learn what are His interests,
and to work heart and soul with Him in their extension. As
we learn more of Him we learn better how to serve Him.
“I am learning how to serve Him,
With my hands, my
heart, my feet,
And each day my Master’s service,
To
my soul becomes more sweet.”
When we enter the Church of God we leave self-interests
on the outside and then shut the door. There is no living to
self in the Church of God. It is all for Christ. We no
longer live unto ourselves, but unto Him who died for us. He
died for us; we live for Him.
The devil has been allowed to set up his kingdom in the
earth, and he has a great many interests. He has many who
are working in his interests. And a surprising thing is that
many are working in his interest when they fancy that they
are working in the interest of Jesus Christ. They think they
are working in the interest of Christ and at the same time
endeavoring to have God’s people to distrust Christ.
Most every one has an interest in something. The sole
interest of the saint is to further the interests of Jesus.
They live to this end. This is their meat and drink. The
deeper their interest the harder they work. The true devoted
saint goes to bed thinking and praying how he can advance
the cause of God. He awakes in the morning with the same
thought in his mind and prayer in his soul. This is what
makes for more abundant life. When you thus live for Jesus
you will taste a glory the world knows not of, and a divine
glory will shine forth out of your life that can be found no
where besides in all the world. You get to living in the
interest of Jesus with all your soul and you have found
heaven on earth. Show me a man who lives in word, thought,
and deed for one day in the interest of Christ, and I will
show you a man who can teach others the right ways of God
more perfectly than all the doctors of divinity. It would
require a large volume to express all the thoughts given us
on this subject of learning Jesus, but we must soon conclude
this part of our booklet. However before we leave this
subject let us take one trait in the nature of Christ and
give it a brief study. It is His separation from the world.
He makes the positive declaration “I am not of this world”
(John 8:23). This is a very simple statement, but who
comprehends the depth of its meaning? In what sense and to
what extent was Christ not of this world? You will need to
get into some solitary place, and in the hush of your soul
get in the Spirit that you may have any considerable degree
of conception of Christ’s separation from the world. You
will just truly need to shut out every earthly thing from
your mind and soul, and invite the Holy Spirit to come into
your spirit and there give you light to behold the life of
Jesus. “The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord.” (Prov.
20:27). God by His Spirit needs come into your spirit and
light the candle that you may see the nature of Christ.
Multitudes of professed followers of Jesus are talking of
Christ’s and the Christian’s separation from the world and
they have but little knowledge of what it means. We might be
able to tell you something of what it means, but unless the
Spirit gives you understanding you will still be in
ignorance.
God loved the world, and Jesus loved the world. This
means the souls of men. Jesus never loved any material,
earthly thing. He never loved money or any thing that money
could buy. He did have need, while doing His Father’s
business in the body, of a few earthly things, but oh, how
few! Can you find any where in His conversation that implies
any concern or any affection for any material thing? He had
meat to eat that the world knew not of. His meat was to do
His Father’s will. When He looked upon any earthly thing He
did not see that material object so much as He saw what it
typified in the spiritual world. When man looks on earthly
things and sees nothing of the unseen things which they are
meant to represent, he is not into the precious secret of
Christ’s separation from the world. When Jesus saw a vine
and its branches He saw the Church of God. When He saw a
field of grain ripening for harvest, He saw the harvest of
souls. When He saw the birds of the air, or the lilies of
the field, He saw I-us heavenly Father’s care of His people.
When He saw the water the woman came to draw, He saw the
“living water.” When He saw a flock of sheep, He thought of
His own flock. When He saw a hen gathering her brood under
her wings, He thought of gathering His people under His
wing. His conversation and His life plainly show that He was
concerned in the unseen things rather than the seen. If He
had seen a man in a fine automobile He would not have
admired the automobile but thought of the chariot iii which
that man’s soul could ride to heaven. Alas, how prone man is
to see the seen things!
We must close this subject, but let us close it with a
“hard saying,” and “who can hear it?” Jesus, in all His
teaching, preaching, work of healing and going about doing
good never took a single thought about any earthly
compensation. You as a follower are to be as separate from
the world as He was from the world. (See John 17:14-16). He
never took a single thought about the praise of men, nor of
their criticisms. A mountain of gold dollars would not
influence Him one iota from His path of duty. Instead of
seeing the mountain of gold, He would see the riches of
God’s grace. He never used banquets, and sightseeing trips
as a drawing-card to His religious gatherings. Those who for
their Bible teaching, whether it be by preaching, or
correspondence, have any thought about com¬pensation or make
a charge, do not see Jesus in His separation from earthly
things. Instead of seeing the glory of the material temple
He saw its destruction. Instead of admiring the world or
anything in it, He saw its destruction, and admired only
that which was to endure forever. Do not be hasty to condemn
the above words, but go into your secret closet and with the
door shut ask God to reveal to your soul Christ in His
separation from the world. Since it is the poor that is to
have the Gospel preached to them, how dare we make a charge?
In your learning of Jesus, study His prayer life, and seek
to live in that same spirit of prayer. God’s people need
more of a spirit of prayer. They need to walk in the
atmosphere of prayer.
The third word of Christ to us is,
FOLLOW ME
“Come unto me.” “Learn of me.” “Follow me.”
What does
it mean to follow Jesus? Is it not true that many are
singing,
“I will follow thee, my Saviour,
Where-so-e’er my lot
may be,
Where thou goest I will follow,
Yes, my
Lord, I’ll follow thee.
“Though I meet with tribulation,
Sorely tempted though I be,
I remember thou wast
tempted,
And rejoice to follow thee.”
who have hut little comprehension of what it means to
follow Jesus? There can be no following of Jesus except
there be a denying of self and the bearing of a cross. Jesus
bore a cross, not only a wooden one up the hill to Golgotha,
but also another and heavier cross from the day He entered
His ministry. Read Matt. 16:24; Mark 8:34, and 10:21; Luke
9:23. Note what word Luke uses that Matthew and Mark do not
use. This cross is to borne “daily.” Look through the
ministry of Jesus, and see the cross He bore. This is the
cross you are to bear in your following of Him. You have a
good home, well furnished, receive a salary for your
ministry, men are speaking well of you, and recommending you
as being a good preacher, and doing a good work, etc. Where
is the cross-bearing of Jesus? Some may say that they have
some persecutions. If you will examine closely you may find
that about the only persecution you have comes from those
who envy you your prominent position and good salary, and
they are itching to get your position.
Jesus did not teach, and neither does this booklet, that
you can not hold a legal right to a home, but He did teach
that whatever you possess of earthly things to regard them
as though you did not own them. You are to take that
attitude toward every earthly thing you possess. That word
mine is not to be found in your vocabulary. Miss Mary
Bosanquet said that between herself and Mrs. Ryan and the
other saints in their community, that the cold words of mine
and thine were never used among them. John Wesley, in
speaking of Mrs. Ryan, said: “To con¬verse with her is an
unspeakable blessing to me. I can not think of her without
thinking of God. Others may lead me to God, but it is, as it
were, going around about, but she leads me straight into His
presence.” Hold your¬self and what you possess as your own
and you rob yourself of the presence and power of God. If
you will read 1 Cor. 7:29-31 you will get some understanding
how to regard every earthly thing even the wife of your
bosom. You are to take such an attitude, not only that
nothing shall hinder you in doing God’s will, but also that
you are to use all to His glory purposely. You are to use
nothing that you possess for any selfish purpose, but every
thing to God’s glory, even to your eating and drinking.
Multitudes of professed followers of Jesus will quote 1 Cor.
10:31, and give it such an interpretation, or treat it with
such neglect as to allow them to indulge in many of the
lusts of the flesh. You are to regard your body as not your
own, but are to glorify God in it. (See 1 Cor. 6:20.) In all
the uses of your body, in all you do with it, and for it,
there is to be a higher consideration than
self-gratification. This extends to all the little things of
daily life- to the spending of every penny and of every
moment of time. There is not to be a gratifying of the
appetite without considering the glory of God, and there is
not to be a lounging back in the easy chair in a careless
and thoughtless way. Do all, even these, with the thought of
God’s glory, and whatever God’s glory calls for is to be
done at whatever cost to bodily comforts. If you will live
this sort of life you will surely find a daily
cross-bearing. That body will needs meet with many denials,
and some very severe ones.
Please read the teaching of Jesus as given in Matt.
19:9-12. You may say that you do not understand these words.
Do you want to understand them? Do you pray earnestly that
you may understand them? It does seem that Jesus understood
that not all men were able to receive this saying, and that
it was said only to those who are able to receive it, but
are you very happy because it is said to only those who are
able to receive it? Are you ready to conclude that it does
not include you? Have you ever prayed earnestly that you
might be able to receive it, and thus live to the greater
glory of God? These words do teach, my dear brethren, that
we should keep free from all the possible entanglements of
life that we might serve God more fully and intensely. Jesus
will never give you a cross heavier than you can bear, but
oh, beware lest you throw it down long before you get to the
breaking-point. There is so little going against the flesh.
We shall ask you to read Luke 9:57-62. Can you not feel
in the reading of these words that the following of Jesus
forbids looseness or carelessness in life? Life is full of
meaning, and that meaning is to live it wholly unto God and
never to the pleasures of the flesh. This is the
cross-hearing. Some may say that the Scriptures to which we
are referring are beyond the reach of the human intellect to
comprehend. They are beyond the reach of the human intellect
alone but if we will get down into the secret place the Holy
Spirit will teach our human intellects through our human
spirits and we shall know the meaning of all Christ’s
teaching. Jesus never taught any thing He did not intend us
to understand. If we do not understand some of His sayings,
it is because we are not willing to go with Him into that
death and separation from the world, and cease to “lean to
our own understanding” that by His Spirit He can teach us of
spiritual things. Jesus says in verse 62, “No man, having
put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the
kingdom of God.” Ought we not to want to know what “looking
back” means? If it unfits us for the kingdom of heaven,
ought we not to seek every possible way to learn what it
means to look back lest we be doing it? If you read these
words and because you do not understand them, you pass them
by and think it is of no great importance that you know
them, you are running a great risk, and are in great danger
of missing the kingdom of God. Jesus here gives a picture of
the Christian life. The plough represents the service of
God. The Christian enters God’s service. He puts his hand to
the plough. He throws the weight of his body upon it to
cause it to turn up the soil. He keeps his eye straight
ahead to the work he is doing. There must be no backward
glances of the eye; no turning of the head, but a constant
bending forward of the body, a tight holding of the plough
with the hand and an eye looking unto Jesus. The apostle
forgot the things behind-put them out of mind. He reached
forth to those things which are before. Alas, too many are
looking back to see if man is giving them any praise, or
what they may receive from the world for their service in
God’s work, or some bodily comfort, ease, or pleasure. If in
your work for Christ, you are taking any thought about what
recompense you are going to receive and what help the world
is going to give, you are not fit for the work of God. You
say that your work is a faith work, but you are telling
everybody that it is a faith work. If it is a faith work,
have it to your¬self alone, and go on with your work. To
follow Jesus is to fully depend upon Him. He can and will
furnish you with all you need in His work, if you are
diligently at¬tending to His work, but if you are casting
your eye around upon man to see where some help is coming
from, you are unfitting yourself for the service of God.
Jesus said, “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine
own will, but the will of Him that sent me.” John 6:38. And
He never looked back. He kept looking straight forward to
the Father’s will. The devil could not cause Him to look
back. He tempted Him with every thing from a loaf of bread
to the kingdoms of the world, but Jesus saw nothing but His
Father’s will. He could turn water into wine for others, and
increase a few loaves and fishes to a sufficiency to feed
thousands, but never an act for Himself solely for His own
sake. Here is a hard saying, but we will say it in Jesus’
name. We are to do nothing for ourselves for self sake.
Alas, how many of the Lord’s own are living too
thoughtlessly of God’s will. They eat, they drink, they
sleep, they go about the regular routine of life without a
thought of God’s will. If we will practice going to our
meals, our beds, our work in the thought of doing the will
of God, we will find the love of God increasing in our
hearts, and life will be sweeter and Christ will be more
real to us.
To be a true follower of Jesus the thought of doing His
will must absorb every other thought. There is not to be
only a perfect denial of self, but there must be a
concentration of all our powers in doing His will. To do
God’s will from the heart is no cold and indifferent
hearted-ness. We do want to impress this upon your mind,
therefore we repeat our warning against thoughtlessness,
carelessness, and coldness. Learn to do things purposely for
God. Take thought about it. Throw your heart into it with an
earnestness. Learn to love God’s will and cling to it
purposely. Do not go along day after day in a common routine
of life and have no particular thought of God. “Remember
Lot’s wife.” Lot when ordered to flee out of Sodom was
forbidden to look back. Surely this will deeply impress your
mind.
“I have left all the world to follow Jesus;
Never
backward to its follies will I turn;
Oh, I’m on my
upward way, and it’s brighter every day
For I’ve left
all the world to follow Jesus.”
Mrs. Lot’s offense was only a look. But that look
unfitted her for a place in God’s kingdom. Her fate should
teach us a lesson. If we look back we are not fit for the
kingdom of heaven.
It is possible to be deceived. We may sing,
“I am dead to the world and its pleasures,
My
affections are centered above.”
and yet have our minds largely filled with thoughts of
earthly things. Just now we read of a minister who says that
he has many heart aches because he has been given but little
money in the past few months, and has had to live on dry
bread and flour gravy. Another says that he has spent many a
restless night because his congregation has not kept their
agreement with him, and yet they sing that they are dead to
the world and its worries. To be dead to the world with
Christ is to have no expectations from it, to be under no
bondage to it, to not be worried a moment by it, to not
spend a restless hour because of it, to take no thought
about it. None of its circumstances could stop Paul from
singing praise to God. No state this world could bring him
into brought him any discontent. Peter slept soundly in the
face of the chopping block. “And though the fig tree did not
blossom, neither should there be any fruit on the vines, and
the labor of the olive should fail, and the folds should
yield no meat, the flocks be cut off from the fold, and
there be no herd in the stalls,” the old prophet would
rejoice in the Lord and joy in the God of his salvation.
Blessed experience. It is for every child of God. Their life
is hid with Christ in God, and nothing of this world can
disturb that life without disturbing the life of Jesus.
The fourth word that comes from Christ to further us on
to more abundant life is,
ABIDE IN ME
“Abide in me.” John 15:4. This is the deepest and closest
experience the soul can find with Jesus. There are no words
to fully define it. We are told that it means sinlessness of
life. (See 1 John 3:6.) There is no sin in the life of those
abiding in Christ. We are told that to abide in Christ is to
bring forth much fruit. This fruit glorifies God. What
wonderful possibilities has a child of God. It comes by
abiding in Jesus. Then we are told that we can do nothing
except we abide in Him. How utterly helpless we are! Then we
must give Him the glory for all He helps us do. When you are
abiding in Him it is His life springing up in your life that
enables you to do all you do. It is not your life, but His
life. But you must be dead, so dead that you can do nothing,
and cease trying to do anything and let Christ live in you.
If we abide in Him, and His words abide in us we shall
have whatsoever we ask of Him. (See John 15:7.) If we are
failing to get what we ask, there is something amiss
somewhere. It is possible to think we are abiding in Him
when we are not. It is possible to think His words are
abiding in us when they are not. In this abiding there is no
dependence on self or earthly things. To trust in man or in
any way make flesh your arm hinders the work of Christ in
your behalf. There must be utter abandonment of all to God;
a perfect renunciation of self; a concentration of all your
powers in Christ’s service, and ev¬ery expectation from Him.
Christ is real in such a life. He is real as life. We are
conscious of His presence and of His power. We naturally, in
our dependence, look to Him for help in all the details of
life. We are consciouc of arising to the duties of the day
in His strength rathe~ than our own. it is blessed. If you
have lost an article, you ask His help to find it, and He
does. If you need a penny, a dime, a dollar, you ask Him for
it, and He gives it. This all comes about as natural as life
when you are abiding according to John 15:7. You move and
live and act in conscious dependence upon Him, and in full
expectation of His help. Such an atmosphere surrounds you.
In this abiding the Holy Spirit has brought the hu¬man
life through the human spirit in contact with the life of
God through Christ so that that life is constantly springing
up in the human life, and begets an unceasing prayer. Prayer
is suggested by the words of John 15:7. “Ye shall ask.”
There is a constant acting of the human life on the life of
Christ; it is drinking it in; feeding upon it as the child
feeding at its mother’s breast. The in-flowing of the life
of Jesus is constant and makes life a constant prayer. As
the little flower drinks in the dew and the rays of the sun,
so the human life drinks in the life of Jesus and takes on
all its beauty and strength.
But when we come to John 15:10 all we can do is to sit
and marvel. We hesitate to begin to express our thoughts.
When we keep Christ’s commandments even as He kept His
Father’s commandments, then we shall abide in His love even
as He abode in His Father’s love. In this experience the
soul is weaned from every earthly thing. The words of Col.
3:2, 3 have become a glorious, conscious reality in all
their beauty and power. Nothing is loved that is not loved
in God. Nothing is done that is not done in God. Natural
love is not destroyed, but it is purified. All things have
become pure. The mother loves her child, and the husband
loves his wife with more than a natural love. It is the
sweetest and highest form of love. Such a one “walks in love
AS Christ also hath loved us.” Eph. 5 :2. Father, mother,
brother, sister, husband, wife, houses, lands, foods,
clothing, all are loved in God. We are unable to explain
this love. It is far more intense than mere human or natural
love. It does rob the natural love of its fleshliness so
that it may appear to the flesh as having something of a
coldness. However, it is not coldness, but only robbed of
the fire of fleshliness. It looks on every thing with a
something of unconcern -house, lands, relatives, friends,
and says, “Lord, thy will be done with all these.” It may
seem cold and heartless, but it is heaven’s purest love.
Jesus said, “Woman what have I to do with thee?” These words
sound cold and almost heartless to a fond mother. They teach
us something of the nature of heaven’s pure love. When dying
on the cross He called His mother, “Woman.” He spoke of her
as John’s mother, but not one time does He ever call her
“mother.” He lived in consideration of a higher
relationship. Things after the flesh were of small moment to
Him. There is a certain emotional spooning fondness that
partakes more of the flesh than of the spirit.
Abiding in Christ forbids trusting in anything but
Christ. “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we
will remember the name of the Lord our God.” Psa. 20:7.
“Chariots” and “horses” here stand for all earthly
reliances. “Woe unto them that go down to Egypt for help;
and stay on horses, and trust in chariots.” Isa. 31:1. It is
a woe. It loosens from Christ. It is the god of this world
that blinds the soul so that it cannot perceive what it
means to be free from relying on any and every earthly
thing.
The abiding soul is a praying soul. In all abiding in
Jesus there is a constant action of the soul, and this
action is prayer. He who abides prays, and he who prays
abides, but we can not have the one without the other. The
soul that prays, really prays, abides in a state of
quietness, re¬poses on the bosom of God, and knows no fear,
save the fear of God. The slightest reliance upon any
earthly thing, or the fear of any earthly thing or
circumstance clogs the flow of the life of Christ. Christian
freedom is to be in bondage to nothing earthly.
Prayer, to be prayer must be untinctured by self-love.
Self-love clips the wings of prayer so that it cannot ascend
to God.
Abiding in Christ deepens the soul’s union with Christ.
It makes communion more intimate and joyful. It makes Jesus
more real in life. It keeps the body, soul, and spirit in a
higher state of sanctification and blamelessness. It clears
the soul’s vision so it can look out upon the glorious
realities of the spiritual world.
Abiding in Jesus loosens the hold of all earthly
interests upon the affections and centers the heart upon
God. It brings God very near. It strengthens the will to go
out upon the battlefields of life in the full assurance of
victory. It teaches the soul to walk softly before God, and
to hold as a treasure every token of His love. It puts force
and vigor in the inward life that enables us to walk with
God through the shadows without a fear. By abiding in Christ
we are ever plodding on in the evenness of life. Whether our
pathway leads through green pastures and is strewn by roses,
or through the valleys and over stony places, we are ever
tranquil and go singing on our way. Abiding in Christ warms
the heart with love and sincere devotion. It saves the
hearts from coldness.
Again, to abide in Jesus infuses into the soul a sense of
holy fear, and makes all our acts in life acts of worship to
God. It keeps self-love and creature-love out of the heart,
and gives us visions of God, and enables us to cry, “Holy,
holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full of
His glory.” Come to Christ daily. Learn of Him daily. Follow
Him daily. Abide in Him constantly.
-Charles E. Orr