The new birth transforms sinners into children of God. But it requires the continual leading of the Holy Spirit to make children into mature sons.
In Romans 8:14 Paul takes for granted the two preliminary experiences of being born of the Holy Spirit and baptised in the Holy Spirit. He points out, however, that the only way to achieve spiritual maturity and success in daily Christian living is to depend upon the Spirit for moment-by-moment direction in every aspect of life. Only this will make it possible for the Holy Spirit to accomplish all the purposes for which He actually came to indwell the believer. This is in harmony with Paul’s comments.
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10)
As believers, Paul teaches, we are created anew by God through our faith in Christ. Thereafter, to continue in the Christian life, we do not have to plan our own ways and activities. On the contrary, the same God who first foreknew us and then created us anew in Christ also prepared from before the foundation of the world the good works which it was His will for each one of us to accomplish as Christians.
Therefore, we do not plan our own good works, but we seek to discover and then enter into the good works God has already planned for us. Here the guidance of the Holy Spirit becomes essential for each Christian. For it is the Holy Spirit who first reveals and then leads us into God’s plan for our lives.
Unfortunately, many Christians today have reversed this process. They first plan their own ways and their own activities, and then they say some kind of perfunctory prayer asking God to bless those activities. In reality, almighty God will never allow His approval or blessing to become a mere rubber stamp superimposed upon plans and activities concerning which His counsel has never been sincerely sought.
This error is common not only in the lives of individual Christians, but also in the activities of churches and other Christian organisations.
Countless hours of labour and vast sums of money are squandered and lost, without any enduring fruit, simply because the counsel of God was never sincerely sought before these various activities were initiated.
In fact, in many Christian circles today, the greatest enemy of true spirituality and fruitfulness is time-consuming, sweat-producing activity labelled “Christian” in name but lacking the divine inbreathing and directing of the Holy Spirit.
The end products of all such activity are “wood, hay, straw” – all of which will be consumed, without residue or remainder, in the fire of God’s final judgement upon His people’s works (see 1 Cor. 3:12).
Father, help me build under the guidance of Your Holy Spirit with gold, silver and precious stones, instead of building with wood, hay and straw, so Your Name will be glorified when You return. Amen.
