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Spirit Vs. Effort
by A.J. Wilson

 “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you” Philippians 4:8-9

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” Gal 5:22-23

“But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;” 2 Peter 1:5-8,10

There is a balance that we as Christians must strive to achieve, between our efforts and the Spirit’s guiding.  Certainly there are two ends to this spectrum.  On one side you essentially have the Pharisee/ workaholic Christian, who does a lot of work for the church (possibly for some personal praise) making all their decisions based on a prescribed pattern.  Then on the other you have someone who does nothing without waiting for the Spirit’s leading (i.e. “What socks should I wear today Lord?”)  While few or none of us lie at either end of the spectrum, we are all somewhere along the way.  Question is: Where are you?

In every question of balance, there is an optimal point which will produce the most results.  The scriptures above, and many others, show us that the Spirit empowers and leads us to do good things.  These scriptures also show us that we cannot sit back and take a ride on the “Spirit-train” making no effort of our own.  We have been given all the tools we need (prayer, Bible reading, etc.) to get the work done.  We must do the things we know to do, and let the Holy Spirit bless our efforts, and produce the crops.  As the old adage goes, “You reap what you sew.” 2 Cor 9:6, Gal 6:7-9

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