243. God Works in You
Philippians 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
God promises that He will work in us. We are not left on our own to figure out what to do that is good and right. We don’t have to wonder what is pleasing to God. We don’t have to try to use our own willpower and ability to do good works. The truth is the human will is naturally bound and does not want to do His good pleasure. The truth is that ability to actually do His good pleasure is not present in us. Sin gets in the way and Self rules what we choose to do.
I am not able to work: the good I would I do not; the evil I do not want I do. Therefore, God must work in me. If He does not work, it doesn’t get done. For this reason God gives me a promise. He will work. He will do what I can’t.
One of the mysteries of the Christian life that we cannot learn by observation or experience is distinguishing what God is doing and what am I doing. We cannot understand “Jesus in me.” Since we cannot understand God’s working in our life we need the promises of God’s Word to show us what is going on. A simple but hard truth that we can understand but don’t want to believe is this: if I do a good work it is God who did it, and if I do a bad work it is I who did it. The praise goes only to God, but the blame goes only to me. I do not get the credit for any genuine good thing I have done: God did it; God works. And God never gets the blame for any sin and evil that takes place. This sounds unfair, but it is really most refreshing and comforting. It leaves me with one duty: I thank and praise, I serve and obey, Him. I repent and believe.
When my attention and consciousness is focused on Christ I can let Him work. He will always do what is good and right. He promises that He will work in me.