Let the Spirit do His work!

The women in my group at Bible study talked about self-examination so we can see our sin and what we need to deal with. My take? This task belongs to the Holy Spirit. He sees more clearly than I do, knows my heart, and knows the best time to reveal sinfulness to me. If He showed me the depth of my sin in the beginning of my Christian walk, I would likely consider suicide!

However, seeing my sinfulness is necessary, both at the time of salvation and throughout my walk with Christ. Today’s devotional illustrates this with the story of Zacchaeus, the short man who climbed a tree to see Jesus as He passed by:

“And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.’ So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, ‘He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.’” (Luke 19:5–7)

The rest of the story indicates how this encounter with Jesus changed Zacchaeus’ heart and produced fruit in his life that indicated he had new life from God. The devotional writer uses this coming down from his perch to say that, “Anyone who experiences the grace of God in salvation will be brought down in the dust of humiliation before the throne of his sovereign mercy. Before God exalts a man, he abases him. Before God clothes any sinner with the garments of Christ’s righteousness, he strips the sinner of the filthy rags of his own righteousness.”

He goes on to make a plea, which applies to sinners not yet saved, but also Christians whose pride is getting in the way of their maturity. The Bible verifies this application by saying:

“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” (Colossians 2:6–7)

I was saved by realizing I could not save myself. I grow in my Christian life by realizing the same thing. When I am trusting myself in any way, ignoring the teaching I have learned from the Lord, and am grumbling and not thankful, I need to pay attention and listen to this plea:

“Come down. You must come down from your own good works and come down from your own self-sufficiency. That is another great step downward, but it must be taken . . . Come down from all your hope in yourself and in what you do. Come down until you see that you are utterly without strength, until you are utterly lost, until you see that you are nothing and can do nothing. Come down until . . . you are made to see that you justly deserve to die. Come down until you are made to see your utter wickedness, vileness, corruption and filthiness. You must come down, down to the feet of Christ. The place of mercy is in the dust. Come down!”

The devotional writer uses dramatic language, but sometimes a strong message is needed to shake loose the complacency of taking the grace of God for granted and letting pride run my life instead of the grace of God.

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Jesus, You know how this happens for You see the human heart and the effects of the self-life. Like Paul, I want to do right, but that old nature has other ideas. Besides the struggle with the flesh, the devil would have me thinking I’ve reached the heights and arrived, that I am no more in need of Your mercy and can coast from now on. How foolish. The good news of the Gospel is not only for those who have not yet believed, but also for those who have received Christ. May I remember this, walk in You, rely on You, never assuming I have reached that goal, but always move toward it.