Avoiding being at ease

My previous post covered the pursuit for spiritual joy. But in this post, I want to mention the need to avoid earthly comfort. That does not mean we should avoid earthly successes, but we must avoid letting those earthly successes crowd out our pursuit of spiritual joy.

Consider, for example, Job, who, at the beginning of the book, has tremendous earthly possessions and successes. Then, as part of a spiritual test, God allows Satan to take it all away. At one point in his lengthy discourses, Job laments (Job 16:12, KJV),

I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: he hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark.

For many of us, when we find ourselves "at ease," our spiritual zeal can begin to wane. Heavenly afflictions might serve to refocus our spiritual efforts, but let us attempt a spiritual quickening before those afflictions arrive. We can do so by praying along the lines (Psalm 143:11, KJV),

Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name's sake.

Trying to achieve spiritual joy

Sometimes it might seem like other people have found a plane of spiritual joy that we, ourselves, cannot find. At those times, it is helpful to know that David, with his heart seemingly aligned with God's, struggled with the same thing!

To illustrate, consider David's words in Psalm 70:4 (KJV),

Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.

In those words, David articulates the mindset of one who experiences spiritual joy. But in the very next verse he says (verse 5, KJV),

But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O Lord, make no tarrying.

Evidently, David struggled to achieve the spiritual joy he saw in others. And if David could experience those feelings, then we certainly can, too. The answer is to pray something along the lines of those words in verses 4 and 5. And do so without ceasing!

The reason for "good works"

Paul makes clear, repeatedly, that we do good works not to earn God's favor. Indeed, God's favor is a free gift that we neither earned nor deserved. In Ephensian 2:8-9 (KJV), Paul states,

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

So then where do good works fit into a spiritual life? In verse 10, Paul explains,

We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

So good works do not cause us to enter God's favor. Rather, the fact that we have God's favor causes us to walk in obedience. This reversal of the cause/effect relationship between works and salvation is a central part of Jesus' teachings, and Paul expands upon it in his letters.

So in our prayers, let us thank God for our undeserved salvation, and then let us walk in obedience as a sign of our thankfulness for that salvation.