Anecdote No. 2: The Life of Faith is Living in Pursuit
Living by faith is anything but passive; it's active! We've already established in the first anecdote that it's the Holy Spirit who enables the righteous to live by faith; it is impossible otherwise. It has also been made clear that the Holy Spirit dwells within God's righteous people and is reflected in one's active pursuit of a life of faith (Galatians 5 gives a glimpse of what life by the Spirit looks like). I like the word "pursuit" because it connotes a sense of urgency and persistence, passion and desire. Living by faith requires mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual dedication to pursue righteousness and holiness. God's righteous people understand by faith that salvation is more than just life in eternity; it is life today - life in all its God-intended fullness. And abundant life while living on earth does not happen by chance or in good intentions; it happens as God's people actively pursue Him before and above all things. The Apostle Paul portrays this attitude when he writes in Philippians 3:12-16:
"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me...All of us who are mature should take such a view of things...Only let us live up to what we have already obtained."
Interestingly enough, he refers to those who consider themselves to be mature in the faith as having this drive to "press on" towards - to pursue - the goal that God has called us to claim: namely, knowing Christ and consequently being transformed and changed to reflect true righteousness and holiness. Maturity is not measured by the depth of one's knowledge or the impact of one's influence but rather by the active, unwavering, passionate pursuit of God.
The notion of pursuit continues in 1 Timothy 6:11 when Paul exhorts Timothy to "pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called."
The bold, active words highlighted above imply that living by faith requires work! It's a fight against our sinful nature and against the enemy of God. It's a continual act of the will to: seek God each day and worship Him, daily read and value the truth of His word, talk about Him with others, pray without ceasing, resist temptation, humble oneself, love others, confess your sins, avoid legalism, trust in the Lord, endure hardship and suffering, exercise kindness and generosity, speak truthfully, overcome laziness, yield to the Holy Spirit who enables you to live by faith.
Friend, living by faith is active and requires daily pursuit of the things of God over the things of the world and the desires of the flesh which will always be in contrast to the desires of the Spirit. This pursuit is not always easy to do; dying to self is an impossible task without an unwavering yield to the Spirit who is the one who works in us to will and to act according to God's purposes. And though the Spirit gives us strength and is ultimately victorious, it is still a battle we must and will face as long as we live in this earthly body. One we must fight by faith. The truly righteous ones of God set as their goal in life the pursuit of righteousness and holiness, having been given a new self that is created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:17-31). This pursuit must permeate how we work, the choices we make, how we relate to our spouse and children, how we serve, what we value in life, our ambitions on earth, what we do with our money, how we view, interact, and treat others and how others see us. We proclaim it, now let's claim it and live out the truth of what we preach!
No comments:
Post a Comment