This is the third and final article in this short series titled “Growth in God.” In the first article, we explored what it means to come to the end of ourselves and how that fosters dependency on Christ. We said that following Christ’s command to deny ourselves means coming to the end of ourselves – putting our desires to rest and living a life of serving others and, ultimately, the kingdom of God. This process is painful and is referred to as sanctification.
In the second article, we explored how denying ourselves (dying to our flesh) fosters dependency on Christ and his sacrifice for us. As Christians, we have a hope that is outside ourselves. And this hope does not wax and wane with emotions. Christ is a stable and sure Rock for his people.
Finally, this article will briefly explore what it means to live in humble gratefulness before God. Considering his commands to deny ourselves and to depend fully on him, what does it mean to live in humble gratitude before him?
Humility and the Gospel
In his commentary on 1 Corinthians 4:7, Matthew Henry writes, “We have no reason to be proud of our attainments, enjoyments, or performances; all that we have, or are, or do, that is good, is owing to the free and rich grace of God. Boasting is forever excluded. There is nothing we have that we can properly call our own: all is received from God. It is foolish in us therefore, and injurious to him, to boast of it; those who receive all should be proud of nothing” (1).
Henry makes a powerful point. Dependency on God is a necessity for the Christian life. This dependency is not only in the context of earthly blessings, but especially considering the heavenly blessings we have received in Christ, namely, the gospel.
The gospel fosters a deep humility. I was lost, dead, wretched, and headed for hell and Christ saved me. Not because of anything I did, but because of the riches of his mercy (Ephesians 2).
When we understand the gospel as the spring from which we receive all good things from God, the natural response is humility before him and others. This humility in our spiritual life can and should bring out humility as we interact with others in our daily lives.
All From God
Echoing this idea of humility and Matthew Henry’s quote of receiving everything from God, Paul states in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” This verse is written in the context of salvation. Verses 1-3 describe our deadness in sin and our lack of ability. Verses 4-10 describe what God has done for us in Christ so that we are made alive.
Boasting is excluded. Completely. This God who commands us to lay down our lives in surrender and dependency on Christ is the same God from whom we receive life. We truly do receive everything from him. As Christians, receiving our spiritual life from God should fill us with humble gratefulness. This world will burn one day. And all our physical possessions with it.
I pray that as Christians in a very sinful and dead world, we will look to Christ to be our life. That we will find our all in Him. We can trust that when he tells us to lay down our lives, we can do it gladly because of the future that awaits us.
References:
Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994), 2251.
Brittany Proffitt lives in Dallas and is a writer and content manager for So We Speak.
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