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Can you think of a season in life when you were frustrated with your faith or you were tired, even exhausted? Maybe this weariness lasted longer than a season, or perhaps you're feeling this burden right now. Do we walk, or do we run? (Col. 2:6, 1:10; Heb. 12:1.) What are we supposed to do — rest in Him, or run the race? And how are we to comprehend doing both? Am I foolish to believe that I have some part to play in all of this? Then this culture around me — this multitude of people that seem to be running in a stationary wheel, so many complaining or crying out, blind or forgetful of the blessings that surround them. Are we abiding, or are we striving?
These questions and emotions point to a theme throughout history played out by godly men, who long for the joy that has been promised to them. Somewhere along the way, their efforts to earn God's favor failed. Their search for faith, nurtured solely in the mind of man and shaped by human hands, consistently and painfully ended in despair. No matter how noble and tireless their works appear to those who study them, they were never going to build their own path to God, nor write their own rules for walking with Him.
If we consider our own stories, the same rhyme of history will likely be found: We continue striving to understand what pleases God. Yet how can an awesome God, the incomprehensibly good creator of everything, retain any sort of affection for sinners? The answer to this question is the spiritual secret, the Gospel, that those godly men have learned throughout history: "The infinite regard that the Father has for the Son makes it possible for me, a wicked sinner, to be loved and accepted in the Son, because in His death He vindicated the worth and glory of His Father."1
St. Paul answers this same question in the second chapter of his letter to the Galatians: "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:19–20 NIV).
In other words, our lives are not our own. This is why His yoke is easy and His burden is light; our weariness can give way to grace. No more striving to have faith, nor punishing our bodies to increase faith — only looking at the faithful one and asking Him to abide. When we hear the sound of God walking, there's no longer a need to be afraid, no longer a need to hide our sin in the darkness (Gen. 3:8–10). We can call out, "Hear I am, God; right here, God. For the sake of Your Son, I want to walk with You and to please You. I love and trust You, with no shame, thanks to Jesus."
1 John Piper, "Forgiven for Jesus's Sake," Solid Joys Daily Devotional.
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