When I was Child

October 26
The apostle Paul makes a truly transcendent statement in I Corinthians 13:11, "When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things." When I was a teenager, I really was a mindless twit. I had two things on my mind, girls and football. My mother spent little or no time teaching us how to act around girls, so I was a dismal failure at that. My father was an absentee parent, only because he worked two jobs most of our lives to make sure we had all we needed. So, I had no training in social skills or moral thinking. I had no friends; I had no future; I had no money. At about 20 years of age, I decided to switch course and began engrossing myself in classical writings so I could fit into mainstream life and converse on an intelligent level with the opposite sex. I read voraciously, got into discussion groups at college, and just generally became the kind of snobbish intellect that had bored me to death up to that time. Still I was a dismal failure at making friends.


At twenty-seven years of age, after a year in self-imposed exile from the human race, I got called into a personal relationship with the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, Jesus Christ. Since that fateful day in July of 1972 I have walked in union with my loving and kind Lord Jesus, and I consider it a real joy to be able to speak to others on His behalf. You see, whether or not anyone reading this blog believes it or realizes it, that is the reason He has called us into a relationship with Him. He has promised to redeem, regenerate, justify, sanctify, and glorify all who are called into that relationship. He has promised to empower us to do far beyond what we can ask or imagine if we stay connected to the vine. (Jn. 15:1-11).

He (Jesus) is the vine, and He makes it clear in John 15 we can do nothing apart from Him. It’s exquisite simplicity. So many take verses like Matthew 7:7ff completely out of context. That promise is conditional, as is every other similar promise. We must abide in Christ and have Him abiding in us before any of the promises to give us the desires of our heart can be claimed. They are all contingent upon our desires being in perfect harmony with His. As a matter of factual rhetoric, many suggest, and I would tend to agree, the desires spoken of in Matthew mean that He will actually replace our worldly desires with His heavenly ones.

So, it behooves us to know what it means to abide in Christ. The answer to that question has captured the minds of man since the Garden of Eden, so I won’t pretend to be able to deal with it systematically here. I have written over twenty books on a variety of subjects that eventually come down to that one point. What does it mean to abide in Christ? And more importantly, what does it take to have Christ abide in us. Of course, I know the two thoughts are interdependent, but many don’t know that. So, if one were to put it all into one easily remembered thought, I would have to say abiding in Christ means, complete, unwavering, uninhibited, obedience and love for God and His word. If you don’t have that kind of commitment to Him, you are likely not abiding in Christ, and He is not likely abiding in you. If I’m right, you are likely bound for eternity in hell, and that’s not a place anyone will brag about. I read on Face Book today the blasphemous comments of an unbeliever. He suggested no one should pity those who don’t believe in a god they can’t see. To that man I reply, “Look at the stars, the sky, the heavenly bodies, the sun and moon, the forests, man’s intellect, and honestly suggest to me that just happened by chance.” ‘The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” (Psalm 14:1). And that’s God’s word for us today.