In a commentary on Colossians chapter 3 from Jamieson, Fausset and Brown we read: “Of ourselves we can no more ascend than a bar of iron lift itself up from the earth. But the love of Christ is a powerful magnet to draw us up (Eph 2:5,6). The design of the Gospel is not merely to give rules, but mainly to supply motives to holiness.” To this I say a hearty, “amen.”
The gospel motivates a man from the inside out to righteousness. There are also truths planted like seeds in the soil that seem to come from without from the Bible. If you see Christ and truly can call Him Lord it’s done with a mouth of true faith, 1 Corinthians 12:3. This is an unspeakable privilege. A proper hunger for righteousness is as much a byproduct of the work of the Spirit of God in a person’s life as carbon dioxide is a result of breathing. We are drawn to Christ like a magnet draws iron. A Christian doesn’t need anything but the living and abiding word of God to be transformed into the image of Christ he sees on its pages. It is the Holy Spirit who makes that word active, alive and practical each day. God is the one who calls us to righteousness and God is the one who gets the credit for our righteousness.
There are many commandments that Jesus gave His church. They are not suggestions. They are binding standards and orders. The amazing discovery believers get to make in their lives is when keeping those commandments becomes a non-burdensome lifestyle, 1 John 5:3. This means that throughout our lives, even as we fail to obey all that we should we see in us, a) an abiding desire to do so at work in us that motivates us through our failures and uncovers Christ in the midst of our renewed repentance, and b) a gracious God who’s with us when we don’t. Both continually provide gospel motivations to seek after Him again and again. We are drawn to this by virtue of our new nature given to us when God gave us faith.
God supplies the desire and the means for a holy life; we supply the sin and resistance. Throughout it all there is no greater joy than seeing that life of Christ in the Scriptures become the most glorious pursuit of one’s weekend. For this we give thanks.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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