We drift along with the tides of island culture (are you keeping the country, country?), pop trends (have you joined Pinterest yet? What about Instagram?), and Christian fads (do you have a HE>i bumper sticker? What are you, a pagan?).
We’re like the crowds in Jerusalem, who were at different times curious about Jesus, annoyed by Jesus, and angry at Jesus. They drifted along with the tide of popular sentiment and moral convenience.
But as Don Carson has said well in the 1-year devotional guide our church is going through, “People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord.”
So what does this kind of grace-driven effort look like? In his new book The Transforming Power of the Gospel, Jerry Bridges says it comes from an equal emphasis on both diligence and dependence:
We see this combination of diligence and dependence in Psalm 119. Though these two principles are scattered throughout the psalm, there are two sections that emphasize them. First, in verses
9-16, the psalmist expressed his diligence:How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.
With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O LORD;
teach me your statutes!
With my lips I declare
all the rules of your mouth.
In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.
I will meditate on your precepts
and fix my eyes on your ways.
I will delight in your statutes;
I will not forget your word.Note the personal pronoun I, what I do or will do. “I seek you.” “I have stored up your word in my heart.” “I declare all the rules of your mouth.” “In the way of your testimonies I delight.” “I will meditate on your precepts.” “I will delight in your statutes.” “I will not forget your word.”
But in verses 33-37, he expressed his dependence:Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes;
and I will keep it to the end.
Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.
Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.
Incline my heart to your testimonies,
and not to selfish gain!
Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.Though the pronoun you is not used, it is implied all the way through. “O Lord, You teach me.” “You give me understanding.” “You lead in the path of understanding.” “You incline my heart to your testimonies.” “You turn my eyes from looking at worthless things.” The psalmist was both diligent and dependent.