WORKING IN YOU
“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Hebrews 13:20, 21
This side of Heaven, we shall never fully understand the scope of God’s work in our lives. He often works in us in such a way that we fail to recognize that it is Him. I once heard this referred to as God being “supernaturally natural.”
Looking back, I can see how He was influencing my thoughts and ambitions when I had no idea it was Him. We could not be saved were it not for His work of conviction and repentance in our hearts. Salvation is altogether the work of God. He began working in our lives and circumstances before we ever knew Him. At the moment we trusted Christ as our Savior, He began a new work in us, designed to bring glory to Himself.
With these things in mind, we should consider how it is that we may ever become what we are supposed to be or do what we are saved to do. Who is it that enables us? Is it up to us to make ourselves what He wants us to be? Are we somehow capable of performing in such a way that He will be pleased? Our Scripture tells us that it is God “working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight.” It is His work in us that is of greater importance, not our work for Him. The only way that we can be wellpleasing in His sight is for Him to do the work in us.
Knowing this, we should ask, “How much is God doing in me? Am I allowing or expecting Him to work in me? How much do I want God to work in me?” We all should realize that there are pitfalls in the Christian life that any of us could fall into. One of the most common is getting so involved in our Christian activities, our schedules full of “spiritual” responsibilities, that we have little time for God. There are many who mistakenly believe that our labor in God’s kingdom is the same thing as His work in us or through us. This is not necessarily so. We can actually be busy doing good things that may not be His will, or doing them in our own energy, rather than through the power of the Spirit of God. When He does the work in and through us, then He gets the “glory for ever and ever.”