When the Christian comes to Christ in full
surrender, he accepts Christ as his Saviour from
sin. His concern is primarily eternity. In Christ he
now feels secure and no longer needs to worry about
“making it” to heaven. Relief is blessed and
reassuring. This may last for only a short time or
it may be permanent. However, there will come to the
earnest seeker for truth, the fact that the
Christian’s life is not in a “rocking chair” but in
the rugged, every day life in this world of sin. He
soon learns that it is one thing to be a Christian
in the company of Christians—friends who are pulling
for him, praying for him, and trying to encourage
him. He later learns that it is another thing to
live the life in different circumstances. He even
finds that his own home is not as easy a place to
live the Christian life as in the church or Bible
study group where he learned of Christ. He may find
that his job requires decisions that are
embarrassing to him now that he belongs to Christ.
Opportunities come to him whereby he could benefit
himself greatly with only a very small compromise in
his new way of life. The natural thing to do in each
case would be to turn to reason. It is so difficult
for us to remember that faith is not human
reasoning. It requires divine reasoning to find the
right answers. Jesus said, “Come now, and let us
reason together . . . “ Isaiah 1:18. “You have
trusted Me for your salvation. Will you trust Me to
take care of your daily needs as well? Will you let
Me have control of every facet of your life?” He
promises that if we will do this He will supply all
of our needs, plus an abundant entrance into the
kingdom of heaven.
This, of course, does not mean that the “rocking
chair” is the answer after all. It is a comforting
thing to know, however, that I am to yield myself as
fully to Christ now, in the new life of faith, as I
yielded myself to iniquity before I came to Jesus.
Paul says, “ . . . for as ye have yielded your
members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto
iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to
righteousness unto holiness.” Romans 6:19.
Jesus lived that completely yielded life, yet He
was ambitious, energetic, careful to do the best
work that He could do. He was never content with
mediocrity. So, the born-again Christian will do his
best, even if he sees no advantage to himself. His
reward is of a higher nature than the world values.
God can, and will, place such a person in positions
of responsibility where His own glory (character) as
seen through the human instrument will be a magnetic
influence to draw men and women to Christ.
We have stated before that Christ works from the
inside outward. He is following this plan in
sanctification as outlined in Peter’s ladder. The
first three steps have to do with mental attitudes.
If the mind is yielded to Him there will be no
problem with the flesh. “Let this mind be in you,
which was also in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 2:5.
Notice that this is a “letting”—a surrender of our
own habitual thinking patterns. The new life of
faith reaches into every corner of life’s
experiences. It trusts Christ even if we do not
understand how He can or will do His work. Real
faith is never concerned with the method that He
uses—only the results that He promises.
There are hindering factors to his kind of faith.
Doubt is one of Satan’s most successful tools. Have
you noticed that when Satan works with a
non-believer he tries to turn him away entirely from
Christ, the Bible and truth? However, when he works
with a Christian, he works through creating doubt.
He worked this plan with Eve. He was, at first,
careful not to contradict God. He simply said enough
to cast doubt as to why God had said what He said.
After creating the doubt in Eve’s mind there came
the denial of truth. She had been warned to resist
the first insinuation of the enemy. She felt the
impulse to flee to her husband—Adam. She then felt
that if she should meet the enemy she had sufficient
strength to withstand him. Now, facing him in the
disguised form, she found herself arguing with him.
[1] There is nothing Satan delights to do
more than to entice the Christian to enter into
controversy with him. “He tempts men to distrust
God’s love and to doubt his wisdom. He is constantly
seeking to excite a spirit of irreverent curiosity,
a restless, inquisitive desire to penetrate the
secrets of divine wisdom and power.”
[2]
“There is but one course for those to pursue who
honestly desire to be free from doubts. Instead of
questioning and caviling concerning that which they
do not understand, let them give heed to the light
which already shines upon them, and they will
receive greater light.”
[3]
Our responsibility is to walk by faith, which
requires obedience, even if we do not understand the
“why.”
Hebrews 11, the great faith chapter, declares
that faith “is,” not “has,” substance and evidence.
It may be hard for us to see these two
characteristics of faith. Our tendency is to try to
check up to see if we really have faith. Where do we
check? Most of the time we check our feelings! We
say, “I feel this way or that way.” Our faith must
rest upon something much more reliable than
feelings. These constitute the devil’s playground.
“Faith includes not only belief but trust.”
[4] “The devils also believe, and
tremble.” James 2:19. Their belief is obviously not
faith.
Why is this understanding so important to Peter’s
ladder? Because, “None but Christ can fashion anew
the character that has been ruined by sin.”
[5] The real question that must be
answered by each of us is, are we willing for Him to
do His work in us, or will we insist on doing part
of the work ourselves? The inclination will be to
“get in there and help.” But we must be willing to
let the Potter have His way entirely and be happy to
lie dormant in His hands. Then, and only then, will
the product formed be of any value!
Notes
[1] See
Patriarchs and
Prophets, pp. 53-55.
[2] Patriarchs and Prophets,
pp. 54, 55.
[3] The Great Controversy,
p. 528.
[4] Selected Messages,
book 1, p. 389.
[5] Desire of Ages, p. 38.
