I am a bit pressed for time today, so I am sharing some quotes from one of my favorite "mentors," Andrew Murray. I rediscovered some treasure from his writing last Saturday that fits well with the ongoing discussion I inadvertently started a few posts ago! After the quotes from Andrew Murray, I will close with a quote from my journal that follows along the same lines and explains why peace and stillness are so dear to me.
First, from Divine Healing, chapter 32, some of Andrew Murray's thoughts about the Vine and branches in John 15.
“Absolute dependence on God is the secret of all power and work. The branch has nothing but what it gets from the vine, and you and I can have nothing but what we get from Jesus.
“The life of the branch is not only a life of entire dependence, but a deep restfulness. If you desire to be a true branch of Christ, the living Vine, just rest on Him. Let Christ bear the responsibility.
“But you say, ‘Won't that make me slothful?’ I tell you it will not. No one who learns to rest on the living Christ can become slothful, for the closer your contact with Christ, the more the Spirit of His zeal and love will fill you. A man sometimes tries and tries to be dependent on Christ. But by worrying about this absolute dependence, he tries and he cannot get it. Instead of worrying, he should sink down into it entire restfulness every day.
“Rest in Christ, who can give wisdom and strength. That restfulness will often prove to be the very best part of your Christian witness. You can plead with people, and you can argue. All they will know is that a man is arguing and striving with them. This is what happens when two men deal with each other, without Christ. But if you will let the deep rest of God come over you—the rest in Christ Jesus, the peace and holiness of heaven—that restfulness will bring a blessing to their heart, even more than the words you speak.” (pp. 141-142)
“Do not confuse work and fruit. There is a good deal of work for Christ that is not the fruit of the heavenly Vine. “ (p. 143)
And now, from my journal, December 14, 2007, an epiphany about how hard we sometimes make it for God to speak to us! I trust you will forgive the rather personal tone of some of my journal quotes!
"Father, I see now that so often we/I have essentially forced you to break into our world in order to communicate with me/us. Your desire is that we become so still and so tender and so attentive to you that you don't have to push, and we don't have to work hard in order to have you speak to us. Rather that we are so attending to you—ah, Father—just as you showed me from the very beginning: that I need to be face to face with you and that I need to be like the one whom you can “guide with your eye” (Psalm 32:8) and that I need to be like the one whose eye is on you as a maid on her mistress or a servant on his master (Psalm 123:2). You have shown us how it is that you wish for us to live, but we have tried in our own strength so many times to figure something out. I think of R____ as he came flooding into my mind just now—I have tried to figure out how to pray for him, yet what I really needed to do was just listen and listen and listen until I really heard you. I wait for you, O Lord, I wait for you."
Learning to rest, learning to listen,
Tom, Papa's little boy
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