Thesis 72 If we were going to try to draw a graph of the Christian life, it could

look something like this:

The abiding daily relationship with God leads to abiding
surrender, moment-by-moment dependence on Him.

Suppose you are in an elevator, traveling toward the top of the

World Trade Center. As the elevator moves steadily upward, you
lean over to tie your shoe, slip, and fall down. You have gone down,
even while going up!

This is perhaps a feeble illustration of the two different kinds of The one who is in an abiding daily relationship with Christ has the
abiding. We can come to God day by day and abide in Him day by upward trend in the life, in spite of the occasional failures.
day. It is the abiding daily relationship that gives God control of our
direction. If we abide in Him day by day, through a daily relationship However, if one is not in an abiding daily relationship with Christ,

with Him, our direction will be upward. We choose whether we will the line would go like this:

abide in relationship with Him day by day as we choose whether or

not to spend that thoughtful hour in contemplation of the life of
Christ and in prayer and communion with Him, And so long as we
come to Him in an abiding daily relationship, inviting His control of
our lives, our direction will be upward.

But many Christians have become painfully aware that even when
they have chosen an abiding daily relationship with Christ, at times
they still can look away from Him to themselves. And at those times
they fall and fail and sin. Which brings us to a second kind of
abiding—a moment-by-moment abiding dependence. Even when
the abiding daily relationship is unbroken, it is possible for the
He may have occasional impulses that reach out toward God, but
moment-by-moment abiding dependence to be on-again, off-again.
the general trend of the life is downward.
Let's nail it down to begin with, that it is the abiding daily
If one is in an abiding daily relationship with Christ, then Christ is in
relationship that determines our direction and our destiny. Steps to
control of his direction. If one is not in an abiding daily relationship,
Christ, pages 57, 58, says: "The character is revealed, not by the
the devil has control of his direction.
occasional good deeds and misdeeds, but by the tendency of the
habitual words and acts." People often ask "Then who is in control at the point of the
downward steps, even when the general direction is upward?"
But the moment-by-moment abiding dependence is what
determines victory or defeat in the Christian life. Any time we are
looking to Jesus and depending upon His strength, we will
experience victory. Any time we look to ourselves and depend upon
our own power, we are defeated.

Depending upon whether we are strong or weak, defeat may be

only inward, or outward as well. If we are strong, we may behave
correctly, but fall and fail and sin on the inside. If we are weak, the
defeat will be outward as well as inward. But if we are depending
upon self instead of upon the power of Jesus, we have no choice
The answer is that the devil is in control, moment-by- moment, any
but to fall and fail and sin.
time we look away from Christ and withdraw from dependence
upon His power. Of course the devil has to be in control any time we
sin. But it's possible for the devil to gain control of our lives for the
moment, while God is still in control of our direction. And what
makes the difference in God's control of our direction? Again, it's an
abiding daily relationship with Him.
God's goal for us is to lead us just as fast as possible to the place
where we will know him and trust Him sufficiently so that we will
never be turned away from Him, even for the moment. And when
that time comes, our lives will look like this:
Thesis 73
Looking to self is always the point of separation from God
and breaks the moment-by-moment dependence on Him.
Do you remember when you first began learning to drive a car? You
had a lot of things to keep track of, didn't you? You had to check the
speedometer and the gas gauge and the rear view mirror and the
road ahead, and the directional signs alongside the road and the
other cars on the road, and listen to whatever instructions your
driving teacher was trying to give you!
It's possible to become so involved with all of the mechanics of the
process of driving that you forget the most important rule: watch
where you are going! When you don't watch where you are going,
you don't go where you intended to go.
When I was trying to teach one of my daughters to drive, we went
around a corner, and ended up on the lawn of a church. It wasn't
exactly the route I had planned for us to take! But we backed up
and tried it again, and the day came when she could drive well
enough to get her own driver's license. But one thing is certain: it
takes more than a driver's license to insure safe driving. If you
become preoccupied with the passing scenery, the other cars on
the road, or the various items on the dashboard, it doesn't take long
to go off the road. If you look at yourself in the rear view mirror and
focus your attention there instead of on where you are going, you'll
have trouble.
Sometimes when we become Christians, we have the same
problems as a new driver. We get involved in the mechanics. We
keep looking at ourselves to see how we're doing. We look at other
people to see how they're doing. The passing scenery, the pleasures
or trials of life here on this earth, divert our attention. And it isn't
long until we find ourselves in the ditch, spiritually. It is a law that
whenever we take our eyes off Christ and focus on anything else,
we lose our way.
Steps to Christ tells us, "When the mind dwells upon self, it is turned
away from Christ, the source of strength and life. Hence it is Satan's
constant effort to keep the attention diverted from the Savior and thus
prevent the union and communion of the soul with Christ."—Page 71.
Any time the devil succeeds in getting us to look away from Christ, it
is inevitable that we fall and fail and sin. Our attention must be on
God, and as long as we look to Him we are secure. But when we
look to ourselves instead, we have placed ourselves where God
should be. And "when man places himself where God should be, he
is just where Satan is pleased to have him."—Ellen G. White, Review
and Herald, January 3, 1899.
Peter discovered this principle in a dramatic way that night on the
lake. It's recorded in Matthew 14:28-30. Jesus had fed the 5,000 that
day, and heaven had seemed to come down to earth. But just when
it looked like the new kingdom could be established on the spot,
Jesus sent the disciples away across the lake, more unhappy with
Him than they had ever been.
A storm came up, and the disciples feared for their very lives. But
Jesus came to them, walking across the water, and Peter said,
"Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And He
said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he
walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind
boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying,
Lord, save me."
So long as he kept his eyes fixed upon Christ, he was secure. But
when he looked instead at the waves and back to the boat to make
sure the other disciples were noticing him, he went down.
In the last chapter I talked about the two kinds of abiding, the
abiding daily relationship versus the moment-by-moment abiding
dependence.
When we take our eyes off of Christ, it is the moment-by-moment
abiding dependence that is broken— not the abiding daily
relationship. When we fall and fail and sin, we must come to Christ
for repentance and forgiveness.
But our eternal destiny is not decided by the momentary lapse. "If
one who daily communes with God [the abiding daily relationship]
errs from the path, if he turns a moment from looking steadfastly
unto Jesus [the moment-by-moment abiding dependence] it is not
because he sins willfully; for when he sees his mistake, he turns
again, and fastens his eyes upon Jesus, and the fact that he has
erred, does not make him less dear to the heart of God."—Ellen G.
White, Review and Herald May 12, 1896.

Thesis 74
God will never separate from us.
But we can choose to separate from God.