PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
“For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:19-21, NIV)
REFLECTIONS:
Life became a little too hectic this week for a full on devotional to be written about today's passage. However, I thought I might include a passage from Dallas Willard's Renovation of the Heart, a book the staff and elders are currently reading. The subtitle of this book is "Putting on the Character of Christ," and it's a description of the general pattern we all undergo as we are being shaped and formed into the image of Jesus. It's important to note that Dallas Willard was a philosophy professor, so his writings are a little dense and sometimes hard to understand with one reading. Nevertheless, his writings are packed with truth! If, at any point, you find yourself scratching your head, wondering what in the world he just said. Rest assured that you are not alone. Yet, I encourage you to read and re-read and re-read again the writings of Dallas Willard.
To begin, here's a pertinent passage Willard quotes from John Calvin:
"For as the surest source of
destruction to men is to obey themselves, so the only haven of safety is to
have no other will, no other wisdom, than to follow the Lord wherever he leads.
Let this, then, be the first step, to abandon ourselves, and devote the whole
energy of our minds to the service of God…
Later in the book, Willard asks a very important question: What does a will or heart look like that has been transformed into Christlikeness? How is it to be characterized? Here's how he answers that question:
Jesus said of himself—and of course he
is always the pattern—"He who sent me is with me; he has not left me
alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him" (John 8:29).
And Paul had this to say: "I have
been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The
life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me
and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).
We recall John Calvin's words:
"The only haven of safety is to have no other will, no other wisdom, than
to follow the Lord wherever he leads. Let this, then, be the first step, to
abandon ourselves, and devote the whole energy of our minds to the service of
God."
So we have the answer to our question: Single-minded
and joyous devotion to God and his will, to what God wants for us—and to
service to him and to others because of him—is what the will transformed into
Christlikeness looks like. That is the outcome of Christian
spiritual formation with reference to the will, heart, or spirit. And this
outcome becomes our character when it has become the governing response of every
dimension of our being. Then we can truly be said to have "put on
Christ."
Later in the book, Willard describes the progression we
undergo as we learn to abandon our selfish tendencies and begin to naturally
and joyfully do the will of God.
In the progression toward complete
identification of our will with God's there are distinctions to be noted.
First, there is surrender. When we surrender our will to God we consent to his
supremacy in all things. Perhaps we do so grudgingly. We recognize his
supremacy intellectually, and we concede to it in practice—though we still may
not like it, and parts of us may still resist it.
We may not be able to do his will, but
we are willing to will it. In this condition there is still much grumbling and
complaining about our life and about God. Andrew Murray comments that "we
find the Christian life so difficult because we seek for God's blessing while
we live in our own will. We should be glad to live the Christian life according
to our own liking."
Still, this is an important move
forward. The center of the flesh, the heart or spirit, is now willing for God
to be God—even if, with little hope or enthusiasm. Perhaps it is only willing
to be made willing. But it is for lack of this minimal identification with
God's will that multitudes of people are unable to understand the truth of
Jesus (John 7:17). Such persons are not willing to do his will, and
hence God does not open their understanding, and they cannot do so. They are
left to struggle in the darkness, which in fact they desire. And they will
certainly reproach God for not giving them more light, though they are
unwilling to act on the light they have.
But if grace and wisdom prevail in the
life of the one who only surrenders to God's will, he or she will move on to abandonment.
Then the individual is fully surrendered. There is no
longer any part of himself or herself that holds back from God's will.
Typically, at this point, surrender now covers all the circumstances of life,
not just the truth about God and his explicit will (commandments) for human beings,
given through the Bible.
While some things that happen to us may
clearly not be what God would wish, or has brought about, yet he does allow all—the
tragic loss of a loved one, for example, or of health or opportunity, or a
grievous wrong done to us by the sins of others. Otherwise such things would
not happen. We therefore no longer fret over "the bad things that happen
to good people," though we may undergo much hardship and suffering. While
he does not cause these things to happen, we now accept them as within his plan
for good to those who love him and are living according to his purposes (Romans
8:28). Irredeemable harm does not befall those who willingly live in
the hand of God. What an astounding reality!
Accordingly, older Christian writers
often speak of how we are privileged to "kiss the rod" of affliction
which strikes us, even while trembling with weakness and pain. What a crucial
lesson this is for spiritual transformation! We cease to live on the edge,
wondering, "Will God do what I want?" Pain will not turn to
bitterness or disappointment to paralysis. Such a one has learned, in the words
of Tennyson to
… so forecast the years,
And find in loss a game to match,
And reach a hand through time to catch
The far-off interest of tears.
But there is still more. Beyond
abandonment is contentment with the will of God: not only with his being who
he is and ordaining what he has ordained in general, but with the lot that has fallen
to us. At this point in the progression toward complete identification with the
will of God, gratitude and joy are the steady tone of our life. We are now assured
that God has done, and will always do, well by us—no matter what!
Dreary, foot-dragging surrender to God looks like a far distant country. Also,
at this point, duplicity looks like utter foolishness in which no sane person
would be involved. Grumbling and complaining are gone (Philippians 2:14-15)—not
painstakingly resisted or eliminated, but simply unthought of. "Rejoice
evermore" is natural and appropriate.
But we are not done yet! Beyond
contentment lies intelligent, energetic participation in accomplishing God's
will in our world. We are no longer spectators, but are caught up in a vivid
and eternal drama in which we play an essential part. We embrace our imposed
circumstances, no matter how tragic they seem, and act for the good in a power
beyond ourselves. "We are reigning—exercising dominion—in life by One,
Christ Jesus"(Romans 5:17, paraphrased), looking toward an eternity of
reigning with God through ages of ages (Revelation 22:5). We take action to
accomplish the will of God in his power. Our tiny "willpower" is
not the source of our strength. We hardly notice any exercise of it, though it
is fully dedicated to carrying out God's purposes in every respect. We are
carried along by the power of the divine drama within which we live actively
engaged. So far from struggling to resist sin, we are devoted to realization of
righteousness all around us. This is the real meaning of "I no longer
live, but Christ lives in me." The strongest human will is always the one
that is surrendered to God's will and acts with it.
This progression toward full
identification of our will with God's will is one that, perhaps for most
people, may not be fully realized in this life. But that does not really
matter. It is a progression that is there for us to enter into now,
through the power at work within us as disciples of Jesus Christ. It may be
that at present we cannot even imagine what it would be like for us to have a
will significantly identified with God's will as just described. But we must
never forget that he "is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that
we ask or think, in terms of the power that is working within us" (Ephesians
3:20, paraphrased; compare Isaiah 64:4). Our part is to begin as best we can.
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