The Oneness

Last Sunday I quoted Dallas Willard's profound insight regarding grace: "Grace is not opposed to effort, but to earning!" I love the quote because it is short and so true! There is nothing a Christian can do to make God love him or her more, Once a man or woman "crosses the line" into Christianity by placing complete trust and faith in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ, They are loved by God with an immeasurable love! On the other hand, God does expect us to love and serve Him faithfully in light of the free gift of salvation (See Ephesians 2:8-10)

This raises a question: When it comes to living the Christian life, where do our efforts come into play? What is the balance between the indwelling Holy Spirit and our personal energy and drive? A verse that has helped me immensely on this subject is Philippians 2:12-13:

"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."

The above verses display a doable balance between God's influence in our lives and our personal influence in our lives. One must be careful to not become overly passive, sort of skipping along with life whistling "I'm simply allowing God to work in me...it's all God and none of me!" Such statements, uttered from the lips, are false and dangerous. The spiritual life is warfare. To win that fight you must take on the armor of God and wield the sword of God's Word, which requires diligence and hard work (see Eph. 6:10-18) As J.I. Packer says in his book Keeping in Step With the Spirit, "The Christian's motto should be 'Trust God and get going' rather than 'let go and let God!"

Scripture makes clear that there is no contradiction between God working in you and you working to follow God. Yet, I close this brief article with a "take-away": By far, God's effort, by way of the Holy Spirit is infinitely more powerful than anything we can muster up. In short, God's Word makes clear that we bring the weakness but He brings the power!

On the Victory Side,

Dave