Something to Ponder

In the sermon preview post yesterday I asked: "How do we balance the biblical call to practice self-discipline with the biblical teaching that self-control is a fruit of the Spirit?". I came across a helpful quote from pastor and theologian John MacArthur. He said, "We cannot abandon our own responsibility and passively wait for God to mortify sin on our behalf. The Spirit-filled life is an active, vigorous, working endeavor, where we work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:12). When we obey, we discover it is actually God who is at work in us "both to will and to work for His good pleasure" (v. 13). In other words, God molds our wills to obey and then gives us the energy to work according to whatever pleases Him. That is the Spirit-filled life" (MacArthur, The Vanishing Conscience, 162).