May 31
Daily Gleanings of the Saintly LifeFriday of the First Week after Easter
By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8.
EVEN faith whereby we are accounted and made righteous before God, is not our own, lest we should think we had anything of our own; "it" (faith also) "is the gift of God." But this gift, whether of faith or love, is so given, that it is with us to receive it. We come to God by faith and love. But "no man cometh unto Me," saith our Lord, "except the Father Which hath sent Me draw him." But by both He draws us through our will, not drags us against it. The pleasures of sense and of the world draw us one way; God the Father and Christ draw us the other. Neither irresistibly. "If," says a father, "pleasure draweth, how much more may we say that a man is drawn to Christ, who is delighted by truth, delighted by blessedness, delighted by righteousness, delighted by everlasting life, all which Christ is. Believe and thou comest, love and thou art drawn. Think not that it is a painful violence: it is sweet, pleasant; the very sweetness draws thee." The drawing of grace changes nature and strengthens nature, reforms nature, subdues nature; but only if we be willing to be changed, reformed, subdued, strengthened. We are drawn with the cords of a man, not dragged as brutes. "The drawing of grace raises upwards towards heaven the will, inclined towards the flesh; allures it when resisting; strengthens it when weak; gives it when fearful a good courage towards good."
Our restless spirits yearn for Thee,
Where'er our changeful lot is cast:
Glad, when Thy gracious smile we see;
Blest, when our faith can hold Thee fast.