I sometimes quip about my wife, “Peggy’s not happy if she’s not helping.” Peggy is ever ready to come to one’s aid, and she can detect an SOS a mile away. I, on the other hand . . . well, let’s just say I’m less inclined to offer my services, which I confess is an outcropping of my sin nature. There was an era, for instance, when after Adult Sunday School, the teacher would ask for volunteers to stay after class and stack the chairs onto their wheeled dollies. Our ensuing conversation would go like this:
Peggy: “Let’s stay and stack chairs.”
Paul: “I don’t want to stay and stack chairs. They have enough help already.”
Then we’d stay and stack chairs.
Yet over time, I began to enjoy helping people. Could it be I received the spiritual gift of “helps”1 by marriage? Kidding aside, I am grateful for the ongoing transformation from passive indifference to active care. This is God’s doing.
It is also His will — that learning would lead to action, and faith engender obedience. Writing to Roman believers, Paul both began and closed his letter by noting our summons to “the obedience that comes from faith.”2 The apostle likewise taught the Ephesians that we are “created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”3 Good works, then, are also gifts —meaningful things we get to do for Kingdom glory — and doing them is the natural offshoot of true belief.
But what if most deeply we are reluctant to act in obedience? Most likely, we are. First, don’t be surprised at the dissonance within, for “the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other.”4 The battle is a fact; accept it. Knowing this, watch out for temptations that tantalize our flesh, our sin nature. Peter exhorts God’s people, “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil,”5 who would entice us to elevate self above all else. Then when tempted, choose rightly. We will either be “slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness,”6 so today when you hear the Spirit’s voice, choose “yes.” And all the while, trust God’s transformational work in your life: “Rest assured it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”7 He is pleased to transform us, even our reluctance. He will do it, so rejoice. And do what He leads you to do.
“You were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” — Galatians 5:13 ESV
Father, thank You for Your opportunities to serve You, the impactful works You prepare for us in advance. Strengthen us to pursue them in great joy. In Christ we pray. Amen.
1 See 1 Corinthians 12:28 NIV.
2 Romans 1:5 NIV; Romans 16:26 NIV
3 Ephesians 2:10 NIV
4 Galatians 5:17 NIV
5 1 Peter 5:8 NLT
6 Romans 6:16 NIV
7 Philippians 2:13 ESV
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Paul Nordman—Author 