We have a really interesting faith. Everyone knows we're supposed to be obedient. It's a lot of work. You know we're commanded to do some rather incredible things, like "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess 5:17) and "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials" (James 1:2-4). I mean, seriously ... consider it all joy??? And then there's the whole, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matt 22:37). I mean, sure, we'd like to love Him fully ... but ... we just can't. And that's just some of it. None of us measure up.
So we read some wonderful statements in Scripture ... that we sometimes seem to miss. For instance, we are commanded to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Php 2:12). Wait ... that's not easy. The command itself recognizes it ... "with fear and trembling." So ... let's knuckle under ... but ... not yet. Notice the next verse, giving us important information. "For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure" (Php 2:13). Do you see that? We're commanded to work out our salvation because it's God at work in us. Because He gives us the will and power to do it. Paul tells us that God "is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us" (Eph 3:20). Read that again. The power that can do "far more abundantly" than anything we can "ask or think" is "at work within us" ... now. And remember, God is the one who is completing what He started in you (Php 1:6; Rom 8:30). On and on.
It turns out that my God will supply all your needs. We need faith ... He supplies it. We need repentance ... He supplies it. We need grace and mercy and love ... He supplies it. We need strength ... and He supplies it. We need the will to do what He wants and the ability to do what He wants ... and He supplies it. We need to be shaped in to the image of His Son ... and He does it. And then rewards us for it. Such a deal!
Well, as long as you ignore all those verses you can go ahead and believe that we produce the faith necessary for us to choose Christ and to work from our own strength to over Him.
ReplyDeleteYes, such a deal! God gives, and I receive. He provides, and I am blessed. He enables, and I benefit. When I think about the mundane struggles within the human experience (for example, trying to lose weight or exercise regularly [it is a New Year, afterall]) and how hard it is to succeed there, and then I consider the more important spiritual struggles I must tackle, it can be very discouraging. If one doesn’t understand the spiritual truths that you highlight today, they could be caught up in the endless cycle of works-driven religious striving: do, do more, do still more--all in one’s own puny strength. But God does the work to grow my faith and inspire repentance and produce fruit of the Spirit in me. How wonderful to let the Almighty One do the heavy lifting.
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