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Title:
"POWER
FOR LIVING"
Author: Carol
J. Ruvolo
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
Ephesians 2:10
God saves fallen sinners and gives them His Spirit
for a very good reason. He has prepared certain “good works”
for each of them to do that will glorify Him and further His kingdom.
These good works exceed the bounds of human ability, which is why, along
with our salvation, God also gives us power and gifts through His
indwelling Spirit. God enhances His glory by accomplishing His
purposes through the use of weak means. He is pleased to perfect
His power in redeemed human weakness.
J.I. Packer explains it like this: “God uses us, calling into
play the powers He has given us, as channels through which His own power
flows. . . . It is very clear from the New Testament that the power of
God is meant to accompany the gospel, and to find expression through its
messenger and in the lives of those to whom the messenger comes.
Those who are alive in Christ Jesus quite literally have their work cut
out for them. And it doesn’t take long to realize that we’re
too weak to do it. No matter how diligently we apply our frail
human abilities, we will always fall short of God’s purposes for us.
If we want to walk worthy of our high calling in Christ, we must draw on
His resources instead of our own.
Those divine resources are abundant, and they are at our disposal to use
in the work of the kingdom. That’s because our salvation unites
us with Christ, and being united with Him gives us access to God.
Scripture teaches that God is too holy to look upon evil and wickedness
(Habakkuk 1:13). And since in our fallen state we are evil
and wicked, we could not enter His presence or access His resources if
we were not united with Christ in His perfect righteousness. Colossians
1:22 tells us that Christ “reconciled [us] in His fleshly body
through death, in order to present [us] before Him holy and blameless
and beyond reproach.”
When Christ presents us before God, “holy and blameless and beyond
reproach,” we stand amazed in the glow of His grace, mercy, and
love. We simply cannot comprehend why beings so vile and wretched
would be chosen of God to accomplish His purposes. We freely acknowledge
our lack of worth and ability to be used as His means in the work of the
kingdom. But then we hear Him affirm His divine right to “have
mercy on whom I have mercy, and . . . [to have] compassion on whom I
have compassion” (Romans 9:15). And we bow in humble
submission and gratitude as we understand that “it does not depend on
the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has
mercy.” (v. 16).
We rejoice in the knowledge that we have been chosen “in the
Beloved” to do the good works He prepared for us before time began,
but we wonder where in the world we will find the resources to do them.
That’s when we hear Him say that those resources can’t be found in
the world, but only in Him. “His divine power has granted to us
everything pertaining to life and godliness. . . . He has granted to us
His precious and magnificent promises.” And God is able to make
all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in
everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.” (2
Peter 1:3-4; 2 Corinthians 9:8).
* * *
Excerpt taken from “A Believers Guide to Spiritual Fitness” by
Carol J. Ruvolo
(P&R Publishing Co., 2000). I highly recommend all of Carol's
books. They are available at http://www.prpbooks.com/.
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“Heavenly Notes 2003”
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