Seek

I'm beginning a self-study on the spiritual disciplines around Foster's Celebration of Discipline. He's made interesting commentary on striving in the introduction which I found helpful:

1. What are we ultimately striving for? Christ-likeness: hearts of flesh (Eze. 36:26), renewed minds (Ro. 12:2, 2 Cor. 10:4-5), holy bodies (Ro. 12:1), emanating the fruit of and walking in step with the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-25).

2. Why doesn't striving work? We cannot change our hearts through willpower (Ro. 7:7-25); this is something God must do (Phil. 1:6).

3. So what are we supposed to do? Expend our efforts not on changing ourselves, but on placing ourselves before the King.

This to me was a relief--however imperfectly we place ourselves before God (the book of course goes on to discuss the disciplines as the means of grace: ways we can place ourselves to receive His grace and transformation), He will act. It seemed to distinguish trying (process) and achieving (goal). The first opens oneself to the process of transformation; the second attempts the goal by oneself. Trying to come before God is possible for us because God wants to be found: Jesus--and Moses and Jeremiah--did in fact say we would find Him if we sought (Mt. 7:7, Deut. 4:29, Jer. 29:13). Achieving sinlessness is not possible (God has provided the means of achieving this: Him, not ourselves). Willing, not willful.

Achieving connotatively precludes failure--but failure is impossible to avoid so long as our goal is wilfully attempting self-salvation. Trying changes our focus to being open to the work God is doing. I suppose one could make religion out of seeking God (e.g., by making the disciplines ends rather than means), but it was freeing to me to consider that, if God will use our smallest effort, the only way to really fail is to deliberately avoid Him. Jesus asks us to seek; he does not demand that we find.

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13)

Trying v. Achieving

Process v. Goal

Willing v. Willful

Means v. Ends

Seek v. Find

Sow

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” Ephesians 6:10

1.       God aims for arable soil. He desires everyone to be saved.

“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends. With the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:8-9)

2.       Each of us is a field with all four types of soil. There are some areas of hardness and hurt, some aspects of our lives that tend to distract us, some desires that we put before the Lord because they are so deep and we value them so much. This is what “God aims for arable soil” means. He knows us completely and speaks to us uniquely at the places where we can best hear Him, where we are soft enough to receive Him. (We are not just one soil—our circumstances do not determine our fate such that God lacks power—as Jesus explains, though, we do ultimately choose to be one soil or another).

3.       As a body, we can be good soil or thorny patches or dry, rocky patches to new believers. We can be thorny—divisive, heretical, legalistic; dry—nominal, well-meaning but not “in step with the Spirit”, not manifesting fruit.

“So I say, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature… The acts of sinful nature are obvious… But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:22-25)

Revival won’t happen if God’s people aren’t praying for it—or if we are not ready for the consequences of revival: having a ton of new believers to care for and disciple. How are we currently caring for the marginalized in our own congregation (Isaiah 56)? What is our response?

“Be strong in the Lord, and in his mighty power.”

“Keep in step with the Spirit.”