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Dear Christian,
Do the commandments of God seem out of reach to
you? Do you find yourself striving to please God with
little success? Do you desire a life of genuine obedience
to God but do not know the way to such a life?
In the gospel of Matthew, the Lord Jesus said, “Come unto Me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will
give you rest.” Our Lord has intended that the Christian life be a life of rest. Yet for many of God’s dear children, it has become a life full of strain
and struggle as they attempt to live in obedience to God’s Word.
Year after year, many make more promises to God, hoping with each new act of dedication, they may finally be able to live a life pleasing to
Him. But sadly, even with sincere effort, time and time again, they fail. Sin seems to make a fool of them, as all the vows they’ve made to God, lie broken
at His feet. Some become just too discouraged and walk away. Others seem to fine new hope to carry on in the struggle, even though in their hearts they
are frustrated. Still others become more involved in Christian service hoping that increased activity will one day free them from sin’s grip, and allow them
to please the Lord with a life of obedience.
Dear Christian, is this what God has planned for His people? A life of broken promises? A life that genuinely desires obedience to God but never
has it in reality? A life of constant struggle and failure with the world, the flesh, and the devil? Surely, this cannot be the life of rest Jesus promised to all
who come to Him.
THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD
Would it be a surprise for you to learn that God has not given us His commandments in order that we might obey them? Rather, He has given
us His commandments in order that we might see our inability to obey them, and trust in Him for the enablement to obey.
To state it another way, God has never intended that His people muster up some level of ability or commitment in order to live a holy life.
He knows we are helpless to do so. Rather, He desires to enable us to live as He commands. Do you see the difference?
The Christian life is not summed up in the word, try; it is summed up in the word, trust. For just as you and I could not lift a finger to help
God out in our salvation, we cannot lift a finger to help God out in living the Christian life. Just as no amount of effort on our part could save us from hell,
no amount of effort on our part can help us live in obedience to Christ.
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
In the New Testament Book of Philippians we read, “For it is God who is at work within you both the willing
and the doing of His will.” God has promised that if we trust Him, not only will He work in us the enablement to do His will, He will
also work in us the desire to do His will. Oh, what a blessed promise! All that God commands of us in His Word, He is willing to work in us!
Jesus said, “I will give you rest.” Let’s say one day I came to your home and found you digging a deep hole in your back yard,
on a hot summer day. If I said to you, “Let me give you rest.” What would you expect me to do? Would you expect me to get you a glass of lemonade?
Would you expect me to get you a lighter shovel? Would you expect me to say a prayer for you, or get an umbrella to shield you from the sun? I don’t
think so! If I said, “Let me give you rest,” you’d expect me to climb into the hole, take the shovel from your hand and start digging.
Many Christians have come to Jesus from the heavy burden of sin, but since their conversion, they have picked up the heavy burden of
self-effort. They struggle in their attempt to obey the Lord Jesus, while He stands ready to bring them into rest.
May I encourage you, dear Christian, if you are in that hole digging, look now to Jesus to lift you out, and end that Christ-less struggle once
and for all! As the Lord stood
ready to lift you out of the awful pit of hell, He now stands ready to lift you from the pit of self trust. In the Book of Psalms, the Lord states His invitation
this way:“Cease striving and know that I am God!”
THE POWER TO OBEY
Many times in the gospels, the Lord Jesus commanded people to do impossible things. On one occasion, He said to a man who could not walk,
“Arise, take up your bed and go home.” Now if you or I would say that very thing to a man who could not walk, many would accuse
us of being cruel. They might say, “How insensitive! What a mean thing to say to a man who cannot walk!” But when Jesus said it, it was not cruel. Why
not? Because when Jesus told the man to rise and walk, He also gave him the enablement to rise and walk. In order for that man to obey the
command, Jesus had to work a mighty miracle in him.
Today, the Lord Jesus comes to us and commands us to do that which is humanly impossible. He commands us to love our enemies, to turn
the other cheek, to forgive our brothers and sisters seventy times seven. He tells husbands to love their wives as He loved the church and gave Himself for
her. He commands us to be thankful in and for all things. He tells us to love our God with all of heart, mind, soul, and body.
Anyone who has seriously tried to obey these commandments has quickly come to see that no one has the strength to keep them on their own.
We have about as much hope of obeying anything God commands on our own, as that man who could not walk had of obeying the Lord on his own. Our
only hope for obedience to God lies in the fact that Jesus is willing to work a miracle in us, and enable us to obey Him. Yes, the responsibility to
obey God is ours, but the power to obey Him is not ours. God must be the power in us to obey Him, or the Christian life will be just a
hopeless dream.
YOUR RESPONSE
Learn early, dear Christian, that the path of obedience is the path of trusting, not trying. All that God commands, He will provide. Every
command in His Word is actually a promise of what He will work in us as we trust in Him. There is great rest of heart that comes to the Christian who
learns that only Jesus can live the Christian life and He wants to live it through them.
While many continually fail in a Christ-less struggle to obey God, I pray you will resist the temptation to look to the flesh by trying harder, and
will come to trust in Christ alone! He is an all-sufficient Saviour able to meet the deepest needs of our hearts, able to do in us and for us all we cannot do
on our own.
Once t’was painful trying,
Now ‘tis perfect trust;
Once a half salvation,
Now the uttermost.
Once it was my working,
His it now shall be;
Once I tried to use Him,
Now He uses me.
- A.B.Simpson
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