The Evolution of One Section

Now that we're near the end of the editing, I find it encouraging to look back over the evolution of this book and see how far it has come. I thought it might be interesting to look at one section in its different stages of development. This is a section from Chapter Eight, "Growing in Grace: Vivification."

The Outline (8/26/2008)

Be Ravished by Mercy
Offer Your Body for the Worship of God
Surrender
Edwards
Wesley
Calvin
Owen
Self-denial
Calvin
Don’t be conformed
Be Transformed Through Renewing the Mind
To the heart, through the mind
Packer
Realize the good, perfect, acceptable will of God

As you can see, this is a very schematic outline of Romans 12:1-2, the passage this section of the chapter is based on. The single words in the subheadings (Surrender, Edwards, Wesley, etc.) were cues for themes to develop or quotations and illustrations to use.

Original Manuscript (10/13/2008)

What is the process God uses to get us on our feet and moving in the right direction? Paul’s appeal in Romans 12 provides the answer.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Rom. 12:1-2)

Motivated by mercy

Notice the basis of Paul’s appeal: “the mercies of God.” Only the gospel can produce real and lasting change. Knowing this, Paul usually began his letters with a rich exposition of the gospel, grounding the ethical exhortations which followed in God’s grace. There are only a few commands or exhortations in Romans 1-11. This is no accident. Paul deliberately builds his practical instruction on the firm foundation of the gospel. Romans 1-11 focuses on God’s mercies lavished on us in Christ, even when we were enemies to God (Rom. 5:10) He has justified us freely in Christ (Rom. 3:24), liberated us from sin’s slavery (Rom. 6:6-7), and indwelt us by his Spirit (Rom. 8:9, 13-17). God didn’t even spare his own Son, but gave him up for us (Rom. 8:32). This assures us that God will give us everything we need. What amazing mercy! Only the ravishing taste of this grace can change us.

A life of worship

The only fitting response to lavish mercy is a life of worship. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (v. 1). If we’re captured by the wonder of God’s mercy, we will yield all we are in worshipful sacrifice to God.

The command to “present” our bodies to God vividly portrays unreserved surrender. “Present” means to yield or hand something over to another. Paul uses this word when he commands us to yield ourselves and the members of our bodies to the Lord as instruments for righteousness (Rom. 6:13, 16, 19). Why does he emphasize the body? Because everything I do is in my body. God doesn’t have me unless he has my body.

This passage describes God’s call for believers with the language of the Old Testament – “sacrifice,” “holy,” “acceptable to God.” In the Old Testament these words referred to literal sacrificial animals. They were to be blemish-free, spotless, and healthy animals. But Paul fills these words with new meaning. We no longer worship by offering sacrifices of dead animals; we offer our own living, breathing bodies. Everything we do in the body is meant to be worship. Transformation is not restricted to a religious compartment of life, while leaving the rest of what we do – the “secular” – untouched and unchanged. God wants all of us, soul and body, all the time. He intends to lift every aspect of our lives up into worship.

As a nurse hands the surgeon a clean, sterile scalpel to use in surgery, or as an apprentice gives his master a tool for sculpting, so you must yield the members of your body to God. Hands, feet, eyes, ears, mouths – submit them all to God as instruments for righteousness, and offerings of worship.

Renewing the mind

Spiritual transformation is an inside-out process. This is one of the key differences between gospel-driven change and religion. God is interested in more than external conformity to a set of rules. He wants to make us new on the inside. The change he desires must go much deeper than behavior. Our hearts and minds must be renewed.

Deep, lasting change happens as I refuse to be shaped by the norms of this present age. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (v. 2). Rather than conforming to the mind-set of the fallen world around me, I must be renewed in the core of my being. The capacity to discern and embrace God’s will for healthy, God-honoring humanity depends on the transformation of my thoughts and affections. God changes me not by manipulating my choices or forcing my will, but by restoring my heart and renovating my mind. The implications for spiritual formation are profound. Packer observes,

Man was made to know good with his mind, to desire it, once he has come to know it, with his affections, and to cleave to it, once he has felt its attraction, with his will; the good in this case being God, his truth and his law. God accordingly moves us, not by direct action on the affections or will, but by addressing our mind with his word, and so bringing to bear on us the force of truth . . . Affection may be the helm of the ship, but the mind must steer; and the chart to steer by is God’s revealed truth.

Since this is true, the saturation of our minds with the truth of the gospel is vital. Jesus said as much, when he prayed to his Father, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (Jn. 17:17). Spiritual growth is not about moving on from where we began – the gospel. It’s about growing deeper in the gospel. Or, rather, getting the gospel deeper into us.

In his book, Our Sufficiency in Christ, John MacArthur tells a story of a newspaper publisher, William Randolph Hearst who “invested a fortune in collecting great works of art. One day he read about some valuable pieces of art and decided that he must add them to his collection. He sent his agent abroad to locate and purchase them. Months went by before the agent returned and reported to Hearst that the items had at last been found – they were stored in his own warehouse. Hearst had purchased them years before!”

We are often like this. We long for a resource that will help us grow. We look to self-help books, counselors, and seminars in our quest for the magic bullet, the secret of change, the key to victory. But the most important resource – the truth of the gospel – is at arm’s reach. We only have to appropriate it in our lives.

The hardest work of writing had been done in the above excerpt, but I was still not happy with it. In the next version, you can see the same passage furthered along by Kevin's editing.

Edited Version (11/20/09)

How does God get us up on our feet and moving in the right direction? What are some of the basic elements we need to understand in order to walk more like Jesus? Paul’s appeal in Romans 12 provides the answer.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Rom. 12:1-2)

Taking a closer look at three of the phrases in this passage can help us better understand the spiritual walk set before us. Those phrases are “the mercies of God,” “spiritual worship,” and “renewal of your mind.”

Motivated by an Appreciation of God’s Mercy

Most of Paul's letters are somewhat evenly divided between an exposition of the gospel and encouragement to his readers to live differently because of that gospel. But the book of Romans follows another pattern. The first 11 chapters (out of 16) are almost entirely one great and glorious gospel exposition. Then we come to the first phrase of the first verse of chapter 12, which includes a “therefore” encompassing all that came previously. After nearly eleven complete chapters explaining and extolling the glories of the gospel, how does Paul summarize it all in a single phrase? “Therefore... by the mercies of God...”

Paul is saying that the gospel, having been painstakingly explained in Romans 1-11, is ultimately about God’s mercies lavished on us in Christ, even when we were enemies to God (Rom. 5:10). God has justified us freely in Christ (Rom. 3:24), liberated us from sin’s slavery (Rom. 6:6-7), and indwelt us by his Spirit (Rom. 8:9, 13-17). God did not even spare his own Son, but gave him up for us (Rom. 8:32). This level of mercy and grace, this crystal-clear demonstration of unwavering commitment to those whom he loves, assures us that God will give us everything we need. What amazing mercy! Only the ravishing taste of such mercy and grace can change us.

Responding to Mercy through a Life of Worship

The only fitting response to this lavish mercy is a life of worship. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (v. 1). If we’re captivated by the wonder of God’s mercy, we will yield all we are in worshipful sacrifice to him.

The command to present our bodies to God vividly portrays unreserved surrender. Here, present means to yield or hand something over to another. Paul uses this word earlier in Romans when he commands us to yield ourselves and the members of our bodies to the Lord as instruments for righteousness (Rom. 6:13, 16, 19). Why does Paul repeatedly emphasize the body? Because everything I do in seeking to walk as Christ walked involves my body. God doesn’t have me unless he has my body.

On this matter of presenting our bodies, Romans 12 uses Old Testament language, terms like “sacrifice,” “holy,” and “acceptable to God.” In the Old Testament, of course, these words referred to literal sacrificial animals—blemish-free, spotless, and healthy. In a powerful, even shocking adaptation of such language, Paul fills these words with new meaning. We no longer worship by killing animals, but we do take an equally extreme and decisive approach in our worship of God. We offer the active and unreserved service of our own living, breathing bodies.

Everything we do in the body is meant to be worship: eating, sleeping, walking, driving, working, talking, cooking, singing, exercising, typing, making love—all of it. Spiritual transformation is not restricted to a religious compartment of life, while leaving the rest of what we do – the “secular” – untouched and unchanged. God wants all of us, soul and body, all the time. He intends to lift every aspect of our lives up into worship.

As a nurse hands the surgeon a clean, sterile scalpel, or as an apprentice gives his master a tool for sculpting, so you must yield the members of your body to God. Hands, feet, eyes, ears, mouths – submit them all to God as instruments for righteousness, offerings of worship.

Transformed by Renewal of the Mind

Spiritual transformation is an inside-out process. This is one of the key differences between gospel-driven change and religion. God is interested in more than external conformity to a set of rules. He wants to make us new on the inside. The change he desires goes much deeper than behavior. Our hearts and minds must be renewed.

Deep, lasting change happens as I attend to how this present age impacts my thinking. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (v. 2). Two different processes are evident in this verse. First, looking to the present and future, I am not to let the world mold my thinking (“do not be conformed”). Second, looking to the past, in those areas where the world has already molded my thinking, I am to reverse that influence, replacing worldly thinking with biblical (“be transformed by the renewal”). In sum, rather than conforming to the mind-set of the fallen world around me, I must be renewed in the core of my being. The capacity to discern and embrace God’s will for healthy, God-honoring living depends on the transformation of my thoughts, and thereby the transformation of my affections. God changes me not by manipulating my choices or forcing my will, but by restoring my heart and renovating my mind. The implications for spiritual formation are profound. Packer observes,

Man was made to know good with his mind, to desire it, once he has come to know it, with his affections, and to cleave to it, once he has felt its attraction, with his will; the good in this case being God, his truth and his law. God accordingly moves us, not by direct action on the affections or will, but by addressing our mind with his word, and so bringing to bear on us the force of truth . . . Affection may be the helm of the ship, but the mind must steer; and the chart to steer by is God’s revealed truth.

Since this is true, the saturation of our minds with the truth of the gospel is vital. Jesus said as much, when he prayed to his Father, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (Jn. 17:17). Spiritual growth is not about moving on from where we began, the gospel. It’s about growing deeper in the gospel. Or, rather, getting the gospel deeper into us.

In his book, Our Sufficiency in Christ, John MacArthur tells a story of newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst who, invested a fortune in collecting great works of art. One day he read about some valuable pieces of art and decided that he must add them to his collection. He sent his agent abroad to locate and purchase them. Months went by before the agent returned and reported to Hearst that the items had at last been found – they were stored in his own warehouse. Hearst had purchased them years before!

We are often like this. We long for a resource that will help us grow. We look to counselors, seminars, and self-help books in our quest for the magic bullet, the secret of change, the key to victory. But the most important resource – the truth of the gospel – is at arm’s reach. We only have to appropriate it in our lives.

Kevin's changes were helpful. He was helping me think through how to label the subheadings and lightening up my prose. But I still wasn't completely satisfied. After two further revisions, this is the semi-final version. You will notice changes not just in labeling, but in some of the content (for example, one of the illustrations was moved to a different chapter where it seemed to fit better, and I added a new quotation from C. S. Lewis). The final section of this version folds in another subsection of the chapter on the dynamic work of the Spirit in our hearts which was in a different section in earlier versions.

Semi-final Version (3/21/10)

How does God get us up on our feet and moving in the right direction? What are some of the basic elements we need to understand in order to walk more like Jesus? Two related passages of Scripture give us the answer.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Rom. 12:1-2)

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Cor. 3:18)

In these verses, Paul provides us with five essential elements which make up spiritual transformation: the goal, the motive, the cost, the process, and the power. Each element is important. We must have the right goal, if we’re to know what we’re striving for. We also need to be rightly motivated in our pursuit, while at the same time fully understanding and embracing the cost. An understanding of the process is also essential, if we’re to fully cooperate with it. And, of course, we must be resourced with power, or we’ll get nowhere.

1. The Goal: The Image of Christ

As we saw in chapter one and have repeatedly emphasized throughout this book, the goal of spiritual transformation is conformity to the character of Christ. We see this in 2 Corinthians 3:18: we “are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” This is God’s eternal purpose. As Romans 8:29 says, God has “predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son.” He wants to make us more and more like Jesus in his spotless holiness, humble service, radiant joy, and self-giving love.

2. The Motive: The Mercies of God

Next, consider the motive, which Paul declares with the phrase, “the mercies of God.” This again takes us back to the thrust of this book. All genuine spiritual transformation is driven by the gospel.

Sometimes Paul's letters are somewhat evenly divided between an exposition of the gospel and encouragement to his readers to live differently because of the gospel. But in the book of Romans, the first eleven chapters (out of sixteen) are almost entirely one great and glorious exposition of the gospel. Then we come to the first phrase of the first verse of chapter 12, which includes a “therefore” encompassing all that came previously. After eleven complete chapters explaining and extolling the glories of the gospel, how does Paul summarize it all in a single phrase? “Therefore, by the mercies of God . . .”

Paul is saying that the gospel is ultimately about God’s mercies lavished on us in Christ, even when we were enemies to God (Rom. 5:10). God has justified us freely in Christ (Rom. 3:24), liberated us from sin’s slavery (Rom. 6:6-7), and indwelt us by his Spirit (Rom. 8:9, 13-17). God did not even spare his own Son, but gave him up for us (Rom. 8:32). This level of mercy and grace, this stunning demonstration of unwavering commitment to those whom he loves, assures us that God will give us everything we need. What amazing mercy! Only the ravishing taste of such mercy and grace can change us.

3. The Cost: Present Your Bodies as Living Sacrifices

The only fitting response to this lavish mercy is a life devoted to worship. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (v. 1). If we’re captivated by the wonder of God’s mercy, we will yield all we are in worshipful sacrifice to him.

The command to present our bodies to God vividly portrays unqualified surrender. Here, present means to yield or hand something over to another. Paul uses this word earlier in Romans when he commands us to yield ourselves and the members of our bodies to the Lord as instruments for righteousness (Rom. 6:13, 16, 19). Why does Paul emphasize the body? Because everything I do in seeking to walk as Christ walked involves my body. God doesn’t have me unless he has my body.

To describe the nature of our bodily worship, Paul hijacks Old Testament language, terms like “sacrifice,” “holy,” and “acceptable to God.” In the Old Testament, of course, these words referred to literal sacrificial animals, which were required to be healthy, spotless, and blemish-free. In a powerful, even shocking, adaptation of such language, Paul fills these words with new meaning. We no longer worship by killing animals. But in an equally extreme and decisive approach in our worship, we devote our own living, breathing bodies in active, unreserved service to God.

Everything we do in the body is meant to be worship: eating, sleeping, walking, driving, working, talking, cooking, singing, exercising, typing, making love—all of it. “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). Spiritual transformation is not restricted to a religious compartment of life, while leaving the rest of what we do – the “secular” – untouched and unchanged. God wants all of us, soul and body, all the time. He intends to lift every aspect of our lives up into worship.

This requires, of course, complete and total surrender: nothing less than the full, unreserved abandonment of all our desires, prerogatives, ambitions, and personal rights. Such self surrender is the only way to make real progress in the Christian life. If you hold on to some vestige of self will, following Jesus will feel intolerably difficult – a moral and spiritual regimen that seems impossible to follow. But this gets right to the heart of one of the great differences between the demands of morality and the way of Jesus. As C. S. Lewis put it, “Christianity is both harder and easier.”

In fact, we are very like an honest man paying his taxes. He pays them all right, but he does hope that there will be enough left over for him to live on. Because we are still taking our natural self as the starting point.

As long as we are thinking that way, one or other of two results is likely to follow. Either we give up trying to be good, or else we become very unhappy indeed. For, make no mistake: if you are really going to try to meet all the demands made on the natural self, it will not have enough left over to live on. The more you obey your conscience, the more your conscience will demand of you. And your natural self, which is thus being starved and hampered and worried at every turn, will get angrier and angrier. In the end, you will either give up trying to be good, or else become one of those people who, as they say, “live for others” but always in a discontented, grumbling way – always wondering why the others do not notice it more and always making a martyr of yourself. And once you have become that you will be a far greater pest to anyone who has to live with you than you would have been if you had remained frankly selfish.

The Christian way is different: harder, and easier. Christ says “Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked – the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.”

Do you see the difference? Morality demands that we be good, but Christ demands much more. He demands that we give him all. That makes Christianity seem really hard. And, in a way, it is. But it’s also easy, because Christ also gives us a new self. He transforms us so that his will becomes ours. But devoting our whole selves to him, body and soul, in a life of surrendered worship, is the first step.

4. The Process: Renewing the Mind

Spiritual transformation is a process of inner renewal that involves the total reorientation of our minds and hearts. This is one of the key differences between true Christ-centered change and religion. God is interested in more than external conformity to a set of rules. He wants to make us new on the inside. The change he desires goes much deeper than behavior. Our minds must be renewed.

Deep, lasting change requires me to attend to how this present age impacts my thinking. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (v. 2). Rather than conforming to the mind-set of the fallen world around me, I must be renewed in the core of my being. The capacity to discern and embrace God’s will for healthy, God-honoring humanity depends on the transformation of my thoughts and affections. God changes me not by manipulating my choices or forcing my will, but by restoring my heart and renovating my mind. The implications for spiritual formation are profound. Packer observes,

Man was made to know good with his mind, to desire it, once he has come to know it, with his affections, and to cleave to it, once he has felt its attraction, with his will; the good in this case being God, his truth and his law. God accordingly moves us, not by direct action on the affections or will, but by addressing our mind with his word, and so bringing to bear on us the force of truth . . . Affection may be the helm of the ship, but the mind must steer; and the chart to steer by is God’s revealed truth.

This means we are transformed as our minds are informed. Since this is true, it is vital to saturate our minds with the truth of the gospel. Jesus said as much, when he prayed to his Father, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (Jn. 17:17). Only when the truth is renewing our minds, will be transformed, and thus be equipped “by testing [to] discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2).

As believers, we long for a resource that will help us grow. We want to discern God’s will and follow it. So we look to counselors, seminars, and books in our quest for the magic bullet, the secret of change, the key to victory. But the most important resource – the truth of the gospel – is at arm’s reach. We only have to appropriate it in our lives. Spiritual growth is not about moving on from where we began – the gospel. It’s about growing deeper in the gospel. Or, rather, getting the gospel deeper into us. As Richard Lovelace writes,

Growth in faith is the root of all spiritual growth and is prior to all disciplines of works. True spirituality is not a superhuman religiosity; it is simply true humanity released from bondage to sin and renewed by the Holy Spirit. This is given to us as we grasp by faith the full content of Christ’s redemptive work: freedom from the guilt and power of sin, and newness of life through the indwelling and outpouring of his Spirit.

5. The Power: The Spirit of the Lord

This can raise a reasonable question: Is the responsibility for growth left in my hands? If the gospel is what changes me and it’s up to me to apply it, does this cast me back upon myself? Look again at what Paul says, this time in 2 Corinthians 3:18: “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” The agent of transformation is the Spirit of the Lord. The power comes from him.

This is the necessary balance to the previous point. Spiritual growth depends on saturating our minds with truth, but transformation is not merely a cognitive process. It is personal and supernatural. “Spiritual life is produced by the presence and empowering of the Holy Spirit, not simply by the comprehension of doctrinal propositions or strategies of renewal.”

So, does that mean there is nothing for us to do? Not at all. For Paul also commands us to “walk by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16, 22), and “be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18). There is, you see, a dynamic interplay between God’s work and ours. The Spirit empowers all of our obedience, yet it is still our responsibility to “keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25, NIV).

Once again, Paul’s words help us.

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, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Philip. 2:12-13).

This exhortation captures the interaction. We are given responsibility: “work out your own salvation” (v. 12). But we are not left on our own. The command to work out our salvation is grounded in God’s promise to work in us. This work of God is on two levels: our motivations and our actions.

To Will: Motivations. “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (v. 13). To “will” is to desire, determine, or resolve. The original word embraces both the affections and volitions of the human personality: God works on our desires and choices. John MacArthur suggests that God uses two things to work on our wills: holy discontent and holy aspirations. He makes us dissatisfied with our sinfulness and inspires spiritual longings for something better. He changes the motivational structures of our hearts. J. I. Packer calls this “life supernaturalized at the motivational level,” for any desire within us for true holiness has come from God, not ourselves.

To Work: Actions. “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (v. 13). To “work” means to operate, effect, or do. God gives us not only new desires but also the ability to carry them out. This is why Paul teaches us to pray that God would fulfill our resolves for good and our works of faith by his power (2 Thess. 1:11).

So, we have a responsibility. We must work out our own salvation. We must obey. We must put sin to death, fight the good fight of faith, grow in grace, and pursue holiness. Yet we can only obey God as we are empowered by the grace of his Spirit. “God’s work in salvation, in Paul’s view, never absorbs or invalidates man’s work, but arouses and stimulates it and gives it meaning.” Consider several other passages that show this dynamic tension.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (1 Cor. 15:10)

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal. 2:20)

Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. (Col. 1:28-29)

In each of these passages believers are active. Paul worked hard, lived by faith in Christ, proclaimed the gospel, and toiled for the maturity of others. Yet in each case, God and his grace played the decisive role. The Christian life is not either-or, but both-and. We work and God works. The two go together. God equips us with everything good that we may do his will, working in us what is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ (Heb. 13:21). This is why I use the word “dynamic” to describe how grace operates in our lives. Growth is not automatic. You and I must cooperate. But all of our cooperation and effort is dependent on God’s grace.

Jonathan Edwards captured the biblical balance well:

In efficacious grace we are not merely passive, nor yet does God do some, and we do the rest. But God does all, and we do all. God produces all, and we act all. For that is what he produces, viz. our own acts. God is the only proper author and fountain; we are the only proper actors. We are, in different respects, wholly passive, and wholly active.

This is hope-giving, liberating, and energizing. Reflecting on the interplay between God’s grace and my responsibility encourages me not to sit back in passivity. I have a role to play. But it also keeps me from despair, for my spiritual growth isn’t ultimately dependent on my unaided efforts. God is committed to my growth in grace and is working in my heart.