Responding to the Call

Most mornings the first thing I do is open my Bible program Logos.  A while back I did and when the program opened, Deuteronomy 32:18 (here at Bible Gateway) was in the middle of the screen and caught my eye.  It is a powerful passage.  Even more so, when you read the context.  

Tonight, I went with my brother to his church in Houston.  A pastor I had shadowed while taking a leadership course in seminary was leading a class on John 15 (here at Bible Gateway).  It was interesting to see how what he said in the 90 minutes that we spent together aligned with what I saw when Logos opened to 32:18.  One of the points he made was that Jesus gives us three callings:

• Come to Me
• Come after Me
• Abide in Me

He pointed out the density of the repletion of the word abide (Greek, μένω) in John 15.  Then he pointed out that John uses the word even more densely in 1 John (here at Bible Gateway).  I just checked, abide shows up 24 times between 1 John 2:6 and 4:16 (here at Bible Gateway).  The speaker’s point was that more people respond to the first two calls than those who respond to the third.

That mirrored my response to Deuteronomy 32:18.  In my journal I wrote, “People who do not choose to abide in His Word are those who have forgotten Him and neglected Him.  Lord, show me how I have neglected you?”

This morning I was talking to a pastor at our church.  I was sharing some quotes from the book, These Words upon thy Heart, I had shared with him that I searched for this book on the recommendation of Prof for 40 years.  It was  worth the search.  Here is one of the quotes we discussed:

“…we truly inherit nothing except what we also discern.  Nothing is ever really ours, however it may be presented to us except we discover its truth and except it prove itself again in our experience…mere acceptance of the conclusions of others… is not the way which we…lay broad and deep foundations.  With eyes bandaged in formulas we see only the aspect of life the formula allows…they grow accustomed to the half light…and with all the colors of it toned down to suit the somber hues of a twilight soul.” (Kuist, Howard Tillman. These Words upon thy Heart.  Richmond, Virginia: John Knox Press, 1947, P 56.)

The point is, we must respond to Christ’s third call.  To not do so is to lead a anemic, muted, colorless, Christian life.