All Efforts of Worth and Excellence are Difficult

My husband, Dennis, was diagnosed with colon cancer in August. It has been quite a journey and one we have shared openly with everyone we know. Before he went out on disability from his teaching job, Dennis was asked to speak in Chapel at school about his circumstances. He shared with the students that the faith he was exhibiting wasn't something that just appeared when he found out he had cancer; it was something that he had been developing over his lifetime. This ties in with my last post on having the enduring goal to look at life biblically.

A devotion we read tonight in Oswald Chambers devotional "My Utmost for His Highest" spoke this very idea. As with many of Oswald Chambers thoughts, these are great words and worth sharing.

"If we are going to live as disciples of Jesus, we have to remember that all efforts of worth and excellence are difficult. The Christian life is gloriously difficult, but the difficulty of it does not make us faint and cave in, it stirs us up to overcome. Do we appreciate the miraculous salvation of Jesus Christ enough to be our utmost for His highest-our best for His glory?

God saves people by His sovereign grace through the atonement of Jesus, and "it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). But we have to "work out" that salvation in our everyday, practical living (Philippians 2:12). If we will only start on the basis of His redemption to do what He commands, then we find that we can do it. If we fail, it is because we have not yet put into practice what God has placed within us. But a crisis will reveal whether or not we have been putting it into practice. If we will obey the Spirit of God and practice in our physical life what God has placed within us by His Spirit, then when the crisis does come we shall find that our own nature, as well as the grace of God, will stand by us.

Thank God that He does give us difficult things to do! His salvation is a joyous thing, but it is also something that requires bravery, courage, and holiness. It tests us for all we are worth. Jesus is "bringing many sons to glory" (Hebrews 2:10), and God will not shield us from the requirements of sonship. God's grace produces men and women with a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ, not pampered, spoiled weaklings. It takes a tremendous amount of discipline to live the worthy and excellent life of a disciple of Jesus in the realities of life. And it is always necessary for us to make an effort to live a life of worth and excellence."

If we have the enduring goal to think biblically; then when trials and difficulties come, we will be prepared to handle them with "bravery, courage, and holiness." As one who is in the midst of a great trial, I can say that it is worth the "effort to live a life of worth and excellence." I couldn't handle all this without the help of Christ and the Holy Spirit in my life. It is not I, "but Christ (who) lives in me" (Galatians 2:20).