A Good Hope is a Purifying Thing

The Already and the Not Yet.

Grace and Works

Striving toward Perfection and Being presented Faultless

I could go on in my list of elements of true Christian faith which stand in tension. Of all of these elements, the one that seems to press on me the most is the one best summarized in Phil 2:12-13 "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, [13] for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."  We work out our salvation, but God works it out in us...

Recently, I ran across the following from C.H. Spurgeon in his Morning & Evening devotional. His main point is that we are doubly perfected when we arrive in heaven. We are perfected by the blood of Christ, as payment for our sins. We are also perfected by the Holy Spirit as we works in us sanctification. Yet, Spurgeon concludes by saying not to coast, just because God is doing all this work on our behalf. If we are not working, then our claims of God working in use are false.

"Oh, how should we extol the power of the Holy Ghost in thus making us fit to stand before our Father in heaven! Yet let not the hope of perfection hereafter make us content with imperfection now. If it does this, our hope cannot be genuine; for a good hope is a purifying thing, even now. The work of grace must be abiding in us now or it cannot be perfected then. Let us pray to "be filled with the Spirit," that we may bring forth increasingly the fruits of righteousness."

To God Alone be the Glory