It is the highest call of the Christian soul to give praise and honor to its creator. We are commanded to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37). Yet oh how far we are from following that massive command! What man or woman can even dare claim that they have truly, at any time, loved God with all their heart, soul, or mind? The number is few indeed, I think. Nonetheless, the command stands. That’s the troublesome thing with declarations and commands. They stand like impassible barriers that are far beyond our ability to scale. Note that I say “like” and not that they “are”. Is not the God who tells us that we must love him with all of our beings the same God that declares that with Himself all things are possible? Are we who are called of God not those who have the possibility and assurance that we will, one day, be “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God”? (Ephesians 3:19) Cast yourself upon God, depend utterly upon Him, and impossibilities shall fall away.
Do not fail to see the promises of God alongside the commands of God. It is the glorious joy and hope of those who are called of God to know that we serve a King who provides for His servants the very things that He demands. As Ter Steegen so poignantly writes,
Thou sayest, Fit me, fashion me for Thee.
Stretch forth thine empty hands, and be thou still:
O restless soul, thou dost but hinder Me
by valiant purpose and by steadfast will.
Behold the summer flowers beneath the sun,
in stillness his great glory they behold;
and sweetly thus his mighty work is done.
And resting in his gladness they unfold
So are the sweetness and the joy Divine
thine, O beloved, and the work
And as the Apostle Paul pens in his grand work of the letter to the Romans, “it does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.” (Romans 9:16)
Do you long greatly to give all glory, honor, and praise to God, yet fail time and again? Despair not at the seeming impossibility of your stubborn, wayward heart, soul, and mind. Instead, believe that; “A root set in the finest soul, best climate, and blessed with all that sun and air and rain can do for it is not so sure of its growth to perfection as is every man may be whose spirit aspires after all that God is ready and infinitely desirous to give him. For the sun meets not the springing bud that stretches toward him with half the certainty as God, the source of all good, communicates Himself to the soul that longs to partake of Him.” (William Law) Ah, brothers and sisters, we serve a God who has given us His very son. How much more will He give us all else that He has offered (Romans 8:32), including the completed sanctification of our souls? Ours is only to gaze upon the glory of God in the face of Christ and be transformed by the imputation of Himself into we lowly humans.
And that is the essential thing. Apart from seeing and apprehending Christ, we will not be carried forward into the promises of God, and we will most certainly not grow in the love of Him, thereby increasing our joy and hope. It is only through and in Christ that we can grow up into God. The aim of the each member of the Trinity is to glorify the others; to “always seek to outdo each other in honoring one another.” (Romans 12:10, ESV) The Spirit’s aim is to glorify the Son in and through every believer. This can only be done if the believer is growing in knowledge and apprehension of Christ, for we cannot glorify something we do not know. This is why it is so essential that we “do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds.” (Romans 12:2)
The question then is, how are our minds renewed? For, as is made clear in Romans 12:2, it is by the renewing of the mind that the man is transformed. It is a mightily beneficial thing that we humans should grasp even part of how the Lord works in us to bring about sanctification. Just as a man who understands the workings of the physical body can better care for himself than can the man who is ignorant, so the man who seeks and increases his understanding of the workings of the Spirit upon his own spirit and soul will be better equipped and more confident in the process.
Romans 10:17 declares, “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” It is by grace, through faith alone that we are drawn to Christ, and through Christ to God. If then faith comes from hearing the word of Christ, the gospel, then should not our aim be to hear as much of this “word of Christ” as possible and thereby increase our faith? Please, do not mistake me and think that I am declaring two contradictory concepts by saying that ours is not to work but simply to gaze upon Christ yet at the same time we are to work at hearing as much of the gospel as possible. Far from it! As the easily distracted student must work to keep his eyes on the ever-faithful teacher, or as the artist must consciously focus on his subject lest he stray from its true form, so are we to strive to keep our eyes upon Christ. It is, as I once read, “a violent repose,” a rest full of conscious striving and focusing. Not to add to the gift given in Christ, but to gain a greater appreciation for its magnitude and thereby awake greater, more appropriate passions and praises. The man who spends hours studying the intricacies of mechanics will have a far greater appreciation for a fine vehicle than a man who has not studied at all.
Therefore, I urge you to, with Paul, seek to “lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.” Seek out, study, listen to, meditate on, and speak of the “word of Christ” that is found upon every page of the Bible. Read the promises there and cling to them, finding rest in the all-encompassing hands of the God who will “keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:8) Then, as you increase in your knowledge and love of God, express your delight and joy in His gloriousness and wonderful deeds to men. It is there, in joy and praise that overflows from a heart delighted in the Lord, that you will bring most honor to your creator. And that, as has already been said, is our highest calling. All others are but shadowy seconds, giving little or no pleasure in comparison and returning no worthy reward. All things are from, through, and to God. To Him be the glory forever, amen!
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