We now come to a key distinction between living in the Spirit and living out of the flesh. Those who live by the Spirit are children of God. Those who seek to please God by law, by their own strength, never know this joy. John Wesley, the great 18th Century evangelist described the key change in his life as being one of going from having the faith of a servant to having the faith of a son.
Think about it. When we seek to live out of our own strength we never find that God is close or intimate, but when we trust in Him and depend upon Him we experience something of His fatherhood. When we live by our own strength we always have the fear of failure, the fear of not being able to live up to a standard. But in Christ we have the security of being a child of God.
The Holy Spirit testifies within us that we are God's children, and causes us to cry out "Abba, father". There is one instance in the gospels when Jesus used this term to call to His Father, and it was when He was in Gethsemane, praying in agony before going to the cross (Mark 14:36). You see Jesus was not told to go the cross and then left to get on with it, it was not a duty. The Father and the Son were in it together. At the time of greatest crisis Jesus did not have to topretend about how He was feeling, but could open up His heart to His Father. In the same way, we are in it together with God. He does not give us a load of instructions and then leave us to it, instead He wants and expects us to be totally open with Him. Then we will receive the help that we need. The way of serving in the Spirit is totally different from serving in the flesh.
No comments:
Post a Comment