Martha had finally come out of the kitchen! She had learned for herself what it was to sit at Jesus’ feet with Mary. She believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Saviour of the world, the Sent of God. She believed that whatever He requested from the Father would be granted. She accepted His claim to be the Resurrection and the Life.

But when the eyes of all those people fastened upon her brother’s silent tomb and Jesus asked that the stone be removed, Martha’s faith wavered. On again, off again Martha.

Abraham was God’s special friend. He had left his home and country to become a wanderer, following the inner Voice that directed his ways. The objections of his family and friends had not swayed him from his choice. When God promised him a son, an heir, to be the father of a great multitude, he had rejoiced. But one thing he had never expected: he didn’t know it would take so much time.

The waiting was what proved to be too much. He ended up being the father of two multitudes, each warring against the other to the present time. On again, off again Abraham.

Moses was a prophet and more than a prophet. He had spoken with God face to face. For forty years he had led a rebellious, stubborn people across the desert wastes, ministering to their varied necessities. He had defended them to God Himself, refusing to agree to their destruction even when they richly deserved it. Yet his faith failed on the very borders of the Land of Promise, and he sinned so publicly and so unmistakably that God had no choice but to deny him the privilege of finishing the job he had started. On-again, off again Moses.

The on-again, off-again club has many members! David Samson, Adam, Paul, Hezekiah, Peter, Jacob. The list could go on and on. Sacred history records only a few exceptions: Enoch Elisha, Daniel. Not many others.

A study of the case histories in the Bible proves that although unbroken trust and dependence in God is possible, on- again off-again is probable. For many Christians, the reality has been to experience on-again, off-again surrender. The reality has been that it takes time to learn to depend upon God all of the time, and never upon ourselves. And while God’s goal for us is that we always trust Him, we had better admit and recognize the reality that in most cases, we don’t reach this goal overnight.

Growth in the Christian life is learning to depend upon God more and more of the time. As we have noticed earlier, dependence upon God is an all-or-nothing proposition. There is no such thing as partial trust or partial surrender. You are either surrendered to God at any given moment, or you are not surrendered to Him and are depending upon yourself.

We abide in Christ day by day through an ongoing relationship with Him.

“Do you ask, ‘How am I to abide in Christ?’ In the same way as you received Him at first. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him.’ ‘The just shall live by faith.’ ” – Steps to Christ, p. 69.

As long as we depend upon Him, we will experience all of the victory and obedience that He has to offer.

But at times the enemy may get us to take our eyes off Christ and cease for the moment to depend upon Him. Then we will fall and fail and sin. It happened for many in the Bible; it happens to many today. When that takes place, our part is to turn to Jesus again, claiming again His promise,

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9.

And we continue the relationship with Him. We don’t wait two weeks for God to cool off. We don’t give up and decide that we’ll never make it to the heavenly country. We don’t try to “make things right” on our own and then come back to Him. We come back to Him immediately, confessing our sin and our need of Him. Through it all, relationship with God continues.

Growth in the Christian life takes place as we continue to live by faith in Him, as we continue to seek fellowship with Him day by day. For as we come to Christ day by day, He will work in us to bring us to the place of continual dependence upon Him.