Having Began in Grace…
WE have been looking at the chapter titled Preparation, in Principles of Spiritual Growth (Part One of the Complete Green Letters). This principle has to do with preparing heart and mind for each phase, each “next step” in our walk towards maturity in Christ. As our author Miles Stanford is going to point out, even though we are born again, the old man (some call it the old sin nature, others term it the “self-life”) remains and needs to be dealt with in putting off the old and putting on the new (Christ). Just like a student learning new lessons needs to be prepared with the build blocks of learning, so we need to be mentally and spiritually prepared for each twist and turn in the path our Lord is going take us through to get where he wants to be in Him.
WELL, I could go on, but it is more important to hear what our author has to say on this matter, so let’s get to it.
MAY the Lord bless you in the study of these things to draw near to him in the power of His strength.
In the wondrous blessings of Christ,
Joe
Neh. 8:10, Isa. 30:15 & Job 2:10
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Chapter 5—Preparation – Part 3
Much of His preparation in our lives consists of setting up this struggle—our seeing self for what it is and then attempting to get free from its evil power and influence. For there is no hope of consistent abiding in the Lord Jesus as long as we are under the dominion of the self-life, in which “dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7:18). “Not in babyhood are we able to continually abide in His presence, regardless of our surroundings and that which we are doing. Not when we serve Him with intermittent zeal does our own soul grow and thrive; not when we are indifferent are we watered from the presence of the Lord. It is after we have been subdued, refined, and chastened; when love of self and the world is gone, that we learn to abide in touch with Him at all times, and in all places or surroundings.”
The value of both the struggle to free ourselves from the old Adam-life and the equally fruitless efforts to experience the new Adam-life, the Christ-life, is to finally realize that it is utterly futile. Our personal, heart-breaking failure in every phase of our Christian life is our Father’s preparation for His success on our behalf. This negative processing of His finally brings us into His positive promise of Philippians 1:6: “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” His “good work” in us is begun through failure (and this includes our strongest points), which continues on into His success by His performance and not ours. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (2:13). There is no question but that we all began in sheer grace, and we must continue and arrive on the very same basis: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free” (Gal. 5:1).
Charles Trumbull said, “The effortless life is not the will-less life. We use our will to believe, to receive, but not to exert effort in trying to accomplish what only God can do. Our hope for victory over sin is not ‘Christ plus my efforts,’ but ‘Christ plus my receiving.’ To receive victory from Him is to believe His Word that solely by His grace He is, this moment, freeing us from the dominion of sin. ….to be continued.
