July 7
  
ALL NOBLE THINGS ARE DIFFICULT 

"Enter ye in at the strait gate . . because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way. . ." Matthew 7:13-14

If we are going to live as disciples of Jesus, we have to remember that all noble things are difficult. The Christian life is gloriously difficult, but the difficulty of it does not make us faint and cave in, it rouses us up to overcome. Do we so appreciate the marvellous salvation of Jesus Christ that we are our utmost for His highest? 

God saves men by His sovereign grace through the Atonement of Jesus; He works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure; but we have to work out that salvation in practical living. If once we start on the basis of His Redemption to do what He commands, we find that we can do it. If we fail, it is because we have not practised. The crisis will reveal whether we have been practising or not. If we obey the Spirit of God and practise in our physical life what God has put in us by His Spirit, then when the crisis comes, we shall find that our own nature as well as the grace of God will stand by us. 

Thank God He does give us difficult things to do! His salvation is a glad thing, but it is also a heroic, holy thing. It tests us for all we are worth. Jesus is bringing many "sons" unto glory, and God will not shield us from the requirements of a son. God's grace turns out men and women with a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ, not milk sops. It takes a tremendous amount of discipline to live the noble life of a disciple of Jesus in actual things. It is always necessary to make an effort to be noble.

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OC commentary 7 July

Essentially, working out our salvation is not  a matter of us providing any effort to complete the work of the cross.  Working out our salvation is truly the expectation God has of us once we receive the salvation provided through Jesus Christ and His sacrifice of blood on the cross for us.  "Working out" is actually practicing the new way of living, living from the inside out, with the Holy Spirit being the dynamic force that propels us into each event.

The true test of whether or not we have fully received, or "worked out," our salvation is how we respond to the difficulties of life.  It is not the easy things which show our mettle, it is the difficult ones.  When difficulty arises, and difficulty will arise, is our response to those things the same as those who have not come to Christ for salvation?  Or is our response something that is "divine" like that of our Master Jesus Himself.  His reaction to everything, no matter how traumatic or tumultuous, was grace, dignity, and peace.  He feared not the storms on the seas.  He feared not the onslaught of those who were His enemies or His detractors.  

How do we react to those things?  If we are still reacting in a way that is unbecoming of one who claims to be a disciple of Jesus, look to Jesus.  Look to the heroic.  Look specifically to the inside.  Make room for the Holy Spirit  to take possession of more of your command center, the center of your being, until you walk in that same peace as our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ.