March 5

and the surpassing greatness of His power to us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, — Eph 1:19-20 BSB

Man needs to be shaken awake by a powerful force from his state of spiritual sleep and death. A slight tug on the sleeve or a gentle pull will not be enough to rescue him from his sins. He must be snatched from them as one would be dragged out of bed when the house is on fire or pulled from a river when drowning. We should never think that the work of grace in the heart is something light or superficial. Indeed, it requires a mighty work of grace to deliver a sinner from his destruction. The work of grace always begins with a spiritual awareness of our ruined condition before God. But even this is not enough to make us true-hearted disciples of Jesus. It is a necessary preparation for seeing the King in His beauty, but it is not the same as seeing and believing in the Son of God for eternal life.

We need something far beyond convictions of sin or a sense of our lost condition. We need, by faith, a view of the Lord Jesus Christ, as revealed to our souls by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit’s role is to take the things of Christ and reveal them to our hearts—His suitability, grace, glory, work, blood, and obedience. And when we see these divine and blessed realities through the eyes of faith, we come to know that they are perfectly suited to our case. We realize that they are exactly what we need to save us from the wrath to come, and that as far as we have a saving interest in them, we are delivered from destruction.

Wherever this believing sight of Christ is given, it creates and sustains a faith that works through love. When we see Jesus through the eyes of faith, when He makes Himself precious to our souls, love is the inevitable result. We love Him because He first loved us, and when we begin to love the Lord, that love binds us to Him in union and communion. As He reveals more and more of His beauty and blessedness, He takes His rightful place in our hearts, and we give Him our deepest affection. He then takes up residence in our souls and reigns there as Lord.

Therefore, three things are essential to true discipleship: first, a spiritual awareness of our lost and ruined condition; second, a gracious discovery of Christ’s suitability, beauty, and blessedness; and third, a faith in Him that works through love, purifying the heart, overcoming the world, and delivering us from death and hell.