"Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him'" ( 1Ti_1:16).
In any judgment we make, everything depends on our standard of measure. Many believers become content with the levels of ordinary Christianity. Although they may acknowledge that their own devotion is defective, there will be no deep conviction of sin or of the need and the possibility of any higher attainment.
But when we begin to see the standard of the New Testament and its universal obligation, we realize how far we have come short of it. We become convicted of the great sin of unbelief in the power of Jesus to keep us from sin and to enable us to walk pleasing to God. However impossible the standard is with men, it is not impossible with God because He works in us by the power of His Holy Spirit.
To discover the New Testament standard of devotion is not an easy matter. Our preconceived opinions blind us, and our environment exercises a powerfully deluding influence. Unless there is a sincere desire to know the whole will of God along with a prayerful dependence on the Holy Spirit's teaching, we may search in vain. But everyone who is truly willing to live entirely for God and desires in everything to please Him should be of good courage. God wants us to know His will and has promised by the Spirit to reveal it to us.
Paul, Our Example
Paul tells us that Christ made him a pattern for all believers, and he frequently admonishes the Churches to follow his example. In studying true New Testament devotion, Paul makes an excellent pattern. Why should we imitate Paul when God gave His Son as our perfect pattern? Many look upon Christ in His sinless perfection as utterly beyond what we can attain. Thus, His example loses much of its impact.
But Paul, the chief of sinners, is a man like us. Christ proved what He could do for a sinner in saving Paul and keeping him from sin. What Christ has done for Paul, He can and will do for us, too. If Christians made a careful study of the life of devotion Christ enabled Paul to live, we would be one step nearer to the absolute devotion to God set before us in Scripture. We would know the true devotion that is essential to a true Christian life.
Is there really a great difference between the standard of devotion in our churches and that of the New Testament? Our creeds honor God's Word, and we acknowledge Scripture as our only guide. A little reflection will suggest the answer. Not long after the first generations of Christians had passed away, terrible corruptions entered into the Church. In course of time, the Church sank into the darkness of the Middle Ages. With the Reformation and the preaching of the doctrine of justification by faith, there was a great revival of Christian truth. But it lacked the corresponding revival of Christian life and practice. While we bless God for the Reformation, we must remember that it was not Pentecost. The spirit and power of Pentecost was infinitely greater.
Church history tells us that it sometimes took half a century and more before some of the great doctrines of our faith were fully understood and formulated. It was not given to one generation to develop more than one truth at a time. All the strength of the Reformers was required to free the great doctrine of justification by faith from the errors under which it had been buried. The full exposition of the doctrine of sanctification, of the power and work of the Holy Spirit, of the calling of the Church to preach the gospel to the heathen these truths were left to later ages.
Even now in studying the true standard of spiritual devotion to God, we must beware of looking to the Reformation or to later ages for our answer.
Our only safety is in careful study guided by the Holy Spirit and the teaching of Scripture. God gave Paul as an example and a pledge of what He could do for us. Therefore, we may be sure that his example of devotion, self-sacrifice, joy, and victory will help us find the path in which we can live pleasing to God.
Stepping Into Spiritual Life
Private devotions give us a clearer insight into what God is absolutely willing to do for us. A life prepared for us by God Himself is waiting to be revealed in us by the Holy Spirit. We must only be ready to know and confess how much is lacking in our spiritual life.
The Church today is characterized by the feeble workings of the Holy Spirit. The Bible promises us the mighty working of God's Spirit in the hearts of His children. Therefore, we should make a penitent confession of how little we have honored the Holy Spirit and lived up to what He is willing to work in us. Then our hearts will be drawn out to a new and stronger faith in the mighty workings of the Spirit which God has promised. Each day our devotions lead us out of the human standard we have been content with and into a life in the Spirit that God has provided and will certainly make real to us.
As we pursue our study, let us fix our attention on three simple questions:
1. Does Scripture really lay down a standard for those who wholly yield themselves to the Spirit and trust God's almighty power to work in them?
2. Is it true that the Church as a whole does not live up to the standard that God has placed within our reach?
3. Are we ready to yield ourselves with our whole heart to accept what God has prepared?