He Has to Do It for Me

Galatians 3:3 is the springboard verse for this blog. Here goes. I turn Paul's question to myself: "Am I so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, am I now being perfected by the flesh?" It's a hard question to ask yourself. I mean, who wants to risk evaluating their own earnest efforts at sanctification and find that they were folly? It's a bit intimidating to look into the mirror of Scripture at this point. The alternative, however, is far worse: trying in vain to perfect myself in my own power. Unfortunately, I have found myself in that very spot too often, trying to reason myself into sanctification: "Jeff, you know that God is in sovereign control of everything. Not having peace in the middle of this trial is foolish. You're more mature than that!"

While God's attributes (e.g., His providential control over events) absolutely have the capacity to be beneficial, I cannot in my own power even meditate on them in an effective way. It's only when I come to the end of myself and my efforts and ask God to do it for me that I can even benefit from meditating on His promises. I think this is the first time I've given a lot of contemplation to the noetic effects of the fall with respect to sanctification. When I try to pull myself up by my own spiritual or intellectual bootstraps, I am living like I'm under the curse of the law. A few verses later, Paul says as much: "For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse...[However], Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us--for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree'--so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith." (3:10, 13-14).

The gospel truth I should be meditating on is that Christ put to death my self-help efforts to manufacture peace for myself in the middle of a trial. He bought me back from the curse of thinking the answers to my problems lie within myself. Having begun by the Spirit, I must also be perfected by the Spirit. Christ has to do it for me. He has to appropriate the gospel truths by causing me to meditate properly. Just as the Holy Spirit helps me by shaping my prayers, Christ helps me by shaping my thoughts.