It’s distressing when professing Christians place the emphasis on human effort for effective Christian living. This is contrary to the NT where the emphasis is on the power of God. He is our Savior, not we ourselves.
In my own life, I’m disgusted with my tendency to make ‘self’ the subject of conversation even though I’m deeply aware that without Jesus, I am nothing and unable to do anything. I’m also aware that some people don’t want to hear that. Some church friends would rather talk about their part in the saving of their souls and their battle against sin.
Today, this passage comes to mind. The devotional says God trains people using our background skills and experiences, yet the NT focus is on the power of Christ to change our lives.
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:18–31)
For Christians, God’s power is in the death of Christ. (See also Philippians 3:4-11) Also His wisdom is beyond ours. Human thinking is about trying harder, relying on our experiences, talents, and other ‘God-given’ resources as if all we possess is part of what God needs to make us like Jesus. Yet this passage and others say our salvation is not of ourselves and we have no ground for boasting or pointing to ourselves in any way.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8–10)
Jesus redeems us and becomes our righteousness and sanctification. He keeps us and promises that when we see Him face to face, we will be like Him (1 John 3:1-3). Our eternal life starts now, not when we die, because Christ who is our life lives in us. Nothing can separate us from His love. Our security is not about being sinless or obedient. Any good we do is the result of being saved, not the means.
Some will ask, why then all the NT warnings about falling back? These warnings point to the danger of apostacy, of abandoning religious faith. The Bible makes clear that some will make professions of faith in Jesus Christ but never genuinely receive Him as Savior. He is not in their lives and yet they assume that because they believe something about Him, they are Christians, yet even the demons believe and tremble.
Pretend believers eventually turn away from Christ because they never really trusted Him to begin with. “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” (1 John 2:19)
Jesus, I realize that the warnings are important, but not more important than the clear promises that You will finish what You start in true believers. The warnings teach me how to identify who is who, who needs prayer and who is a weed alongside the wheat. You warn of this by quoting this verse:
And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men . . . .” (Isaiah 29:13)
You affirm that true faith is revealed by my words and actions. Christians bear fruit in varying degrees but the Holy Spirit produces this fruit — in Your people, but not in those who fake it. No fruit? No faith and no Jesus.
READ 1 John again, looking for evidence of true faith and thinking how no faith displays the opposites.
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