“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God” – Romans 5:1-2. “Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers” – 3 John 1:2 (NASB). In the grace of God, attained by faith, we are on our way to have all He desires for us to have spiritually and physically. So then, we are pretty awesome because of our faith then right?
Uh, well, He gave us the faith too. He gave us the faith to believe Jesus is our Savior and the faith that brings to us everything else that is God’s best for us – in His grace. There is no room for pride in that statement. I am so thankful that I’m not responsible for giving myself what is good for me – I’ve often been wrong when I make those decisions on my own. It is vain making decisions based on what I see with my physical eyes and not based on the reality of God’s Kingdom, which is only seen in the spirit.
Am I obedient on my own? If I’m to obey God because I love Him and I can’t love Him without knowing Him and I can’t know Him without Him showing me Himself – then even my obedience is trained into me. It’s impossible that my obedience to God is of the flesh: “This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,” 1 John 5:3 (NIV 1984)
Also, according to 1 John 3:24, His Spirit being in us is evidenced by our obedience to Him – plainly, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit for many reasons including obedience: “Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us” 1 John 3:24 (NIV 1984)
So, similar to when we were conceived, formed in the womb, and then born, we had no choice in the matter. We in no way could decide that we need a brain with certain propensities, heart, lungs, all of the design required for life and to make us who we are. We had no say and no way to choose those. So we take no recognition for, or pride in, us being alive with all the parts we have and how those parts look to other people and how they function.
Someone may be thinking, “Well, my hair or physique or mind or whatever is pretty awesome because I maintain it, train it, keep the cobwebs out, whatever… and so it’s the same with my walk with Jesus.” The other side of the coin: when I’m (the author) doing a poor job of “maintaining” my Christian life, the Holy Spirit is there to bring me back on track and growing again. If I try to ignore Him, He has a way of getting my attention. Honestly, if it was not for Him, I would continue to decay like this world around us. How attractive I am to the world may not be on the top of our Father’s list for us – we’re made to grow from the inside out.
This is it: I’m left with nothing to boast about, but all that is good is from God. God has given us His Spirit – He is the Spirit of peace and power!