Last week I talked about abiding in Christ and left the discussion with John 15:9.  Jesus said, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.  Abide in my love.”  Then in John 15:10 he said, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”

A while back I read an illustration that pictures many Christians today.  Mike Breen who was a pastor of a church in England wrote about a time that he was in the gym.  “I was relaxing in the hot tub one week when my daughters came up to me and asked if I had tried the Sun Shower yet.  “I don’t even know what a Sun Shower is,” I admitted.  “What is it?”  Did I even want to know?

They pointed.  “It’s that white tub over by the pool.  You stand up in it and get a tan, but you also get totally refreshed.  It is like standing on the beach in South Carolina.”

“What does it take?”  “A pound for three minutes.”  So I rummaged for a one-pound coin and walked over to the Sun Shower.  The door opened to a room the size of a small closet.  Nothing looked too dangerous, so I stepped in and closed the door.  Still not certain of what I was doing, I made sure to read the instructions posted on the wall clear through.  Following them carefully, I put on a pair of goggles hanging in there and shut my eyes tightly.  Nothing happened. 

He said he heard a slight whirring sound and a few clicks, but nothing else.  His daughters were disappointed that he had not enjoyed it so the next week they suggested he do it for six minutes—same result.  Then the next week he did it for nine minutes—he said, “Sigh.  The coins.  Goggles off, coins in, goggles on, eyes closed.  Let me tell you, if six minutes is a long time, then nine minutes is a very long time to stand in a closet in the dark listening to clicks and whirrs.  So I took a chance and opened my eyes—only to find that I could see right through the goggles.  Looking around, I wondered if I would get more of a tan if I stood closer to the mirror.  Then I saw some things that looked like coat hooks on the wall.  M-m-m I thought that maybe they were there to reflect the rays.  Standing still for nine minutes was not much more interesting than keeping my eyes closed for nine minutes, so I turned around.

I saw a doorknob.  What was this?  I turned the knob, and the door opened to a room filled with the most refreshing light rays and replicated ocean breeze I could ever imagine. For three weeks I had been standing in the changing room.  All this time I thought I was having the experience I was supposed to have.  I had tried to work up my feelings of refreshment, but I knew that they weren’t real.  As hard as I tired, I just didn’t get it!  Finally I had experienced the real thing.” 

As I read that, I couldn’t help but think that his description of that sun room experience sums up many Christians view of the abiding life.  “I hear you pastor—I know what you are saying and I believe that some folks are really enjoying it, but I just don’t get it.”  Does that sum up your life?  It may be that you have never really stepped out of the closet—you haven’t really experienced the real thing.

Picture a tall ladder leaning against a wall.  What if our life was best pictured as the process of climbing that ladder?  We struggle to climb each rung and finally we get to the top only to find out that the ladder was leaning against the wrong wall.  Wouldn’t that be terrible?  As awful as that sounds, I am afraid that it is a good description of the many people who claim to be Christians.  They are climbing the ladder of works and religion, but when they get to the top they are going to find out that it was leaning against the wall of self.  Jesus has called us to climb the ladder leaning against the wall of relationship—a close, intimate, and personal relationship with Him.