So, today the devotion talks about a "natural law in sin and sickness" and if we just let go and sink into our circumstances, this law will lead us downward, away from the things of God and into the power of Satan. It also states that there is another law of spiritual life and of physical life in the Lord, which we can seek after... which will overcome the heavy, burdendsome, natural law. It goes on to say that this takes effort and a "habit of faith."
This idea of working in our faith sometimes seems antithetical to grace, but of course, we know it isn't. I believe the author is right in implying that we need to work at our spiritual life. There are all sorts of ways of working at it, even being still before the Lord is a sort of working at it.
We have to show up to meet with Him in His word. We have to talk to Him to get to know Him better. When I first became a Christian, my college youth leader said that when people are asked about their walk with God, some say they are coasting along just fine. He then pointed out that in order to coast, you need to be going down hill, meaning that coasting isn't how we want our spiritual life. I guess we need that uphill struggle to keep us growing in godly ways.
Towards the end of the devotion, the author seems to be saying that God needs us to plug in for Him to work. I believe He will work anyway. He isn't dependent on our actions, however, he blesses us by allowing us to be plugged in. In fact, He is the plugger inner.
May we all seek God in an active way.
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Thank you for your comments! I admit I was dissapointed with today's passage, but your words have brought out deeper truth.
So often I see the line between our choice and God's choice fudged. The bottom line is that we make bad choices all the time and even those bad choices are part of God's plan. He uses everything for His glory. Our bad choices can be for the profit of our developing character which He intends to use later in our lives. We can overcome the "natural law" of sin and sickness but only because He has enabled us to do so...He chooses when we are able to do so...and sometimes, we have to bear with the sin for a time before we can overcome.
There is sin that we will never be rid of in this life. There is sin that we must continually battle. We must contend with and choose over and over again to do the "right" thing.
I do have to say though, that sometimes I think we can give our flesh more merit than it deserves. I remember asking my grandma how she quit smoking. She said, "One day I was at the beach and I realized I had gone several hours without one. So, I told myself I could go a few more hours, etc. After a while, when the urge would come, I would say to myself, 'It's o.k. to want one. You just can't have one.'" I used the same method and quit myself. Sometimes, we simply have to work against ourself, our desires. Kind of like the previous post about feelings deceiving us. Soemtimes I have to say, 'I don't want to get out of bed, but I am going to anyway.'
We live in a culture that tells us we can have everything we want, furthermore, that we deserve it. But God knows what is best for us and I tend to think that it seldom conincides with what we think we want. Doing what we don't want to do isn't always fun...but it may be just what God is using to "stablish, strengthen and settle you."
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