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Human Efforts -- Human Results
May 14, 06:33 PM
“After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?” ~Galatians 3:3
The real dividing line between people of faith is not doctrinal or denominational. It is the line between those for whom God is real and those who function primarily according to the precepts and ideas of a religion. Those for whom God is a reality submit themselves to the will of God and submit themselves to others out of reverence for Him. In the church as well as the academic realm, there is abundant talk about spiritual matters and methods but little consideration of divine will or divine power. There is talk about proper forms of worship, paradigms for ministry, cultural worldviews, doctrine, theology, and Biblical interpretation. However, little or none of it is motivated by the stark realization that the God to whom they refer is real. This goes on primarily because the Spirit is absent or assigned to the back room. Because of this, there is no real power in what they do. It is simply a human endeavor: human thoughts, human motivations, human initiatives – all cloaked in spirituality. It holds the form of religion but denies the power of it. It therefore produces results but little real fruit.
Such human efforts produce a certain willfulness which permeates all that they do. It is prideful, stiff necked, and obstinate. Because the reality of God is not at the forefront of their thinking, their thoughts and actions are not tempered by a deep humility brought about by overwhelming respect for God. (The Bible calls this the fear of the Lord.) Where the human willfulness arises, God’s life cannot flow.
The Spirit is absent because of a lack of understanding about His dynamics and purposes. People simply do not understand how the Spirit functions. There is a lot of assumption and misinformation about it. All matters of the Holy Spirit have been relegated to cultish Pentecostal or Charismatic factions which have their own issues to deal with.
The majesty of God’s reality is primarily, but not exclusively encountered in worship. But for so many, even worship is a human endeavor, dictated by the desires of humans rather than the design of God. When human beings worship God, they must first be hungry to meet with God and encounter His reality. This hunger must always supersede personal preferences and prejudices.
You can tell those for whom God is a reality. There is a gentleness of spirit, not born of their particular temperament but by the terror of the Lord’s Presence and the unfathomable impartation of His grace. Human willfulness has been laid low. The strain of stubbornness has been broken so that they can submit themselves to one another out of reverence for Christ. Do not misunderstand – such people are not without voice or ability or assertion. They are not devoid of boldness or the ability to accomplish. Quite the contrary, they can be some of the most effective people around. Their strength is tempered by a meekness which does not arise only from obedience to the Lord’s command but has its origin in the fact that they have seen the Lord high and lifted up and said, “Woe is me.” This is not a one-time experience for them, but a lifestyle. They not only lie prostrate before God in times of prayer and worship – they live their whole lives that way. Because of this, the life of God flows powerfully through them and they do not produce human results but lasting fruit.