At this point we’re just enjoying being in this new arrangement with God. He’s done everything. We’re just receiving it and enjoying it. And there are specific things he wants us to enjoy—more promises he will fulfill.
Grasping the first one requires a paradigm shift. Because we can easily think this: God has forgiven us, cleansed us, given us a heart transplant, written his desires on our hearts, and come to live inside us; now the rest of it—actually living this thing out—is all up to us, right?
Wrong! The incredible thing about God’s new arrangement is that it never switches over to being “all up to us.” The new arrangement is a free gift, from start to finish.
The next free gift that God promised addresses this question: how can I live the right way? Usuallyfollowing right on the heels of that question is this thought: because I can’t seem to do it very well.
Right. I can’t, either. None of us can. God knows that. What we don’t realize is this: we weren’t meant to be able to.
Think about it. Our lives are supposed to look like Jesus. Just as someone could look at Jesus walking on earth and conclude, “That’s what God the Father is like,” someone is supposed to look at our lives and conclude, “That’s what Jesus is like.”
But who can pull that off? Who can be loving enough to do that? Patient enough? Forgiving enough? Self-controlled enough? No one can.
Well, one person can. Jesus. And there’s the answer to our question. It’s no struggle for Jesus to live like Jesus. And he now lives inside us. That changes everything. That means that our entire life is operating in the realm of the supernatural.
The next promise God made under the new arrangement was this:
“I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes …” (Ezekiel 36:27)
Whoa! Did you see that? After saying “I will put My Spirit within you”—God himself comes to live inside us—he then says, “and I will cause you to walk in my statutes.”
Who is doing the causing here? God is! He doesn’t say, “I will put My Spirit within you, and you will try hard to live like Jesus.” No, he says, “I will cause you …”
This is a radically different view of the Christian life than we normally hear. The version we usually hear is something like, “OK, you’re forgiven. So now live the right way. Try as hard as you can to live like Jesus would. See you on the other side one day.”
Who is the “cause agent” in that scenario? You are! You have to cause yourself to live like Jesus. But that is not what God says his new arrangement with us would be. He says, “I’m going to cause you to do this.” He is the cause agent, not us.
What does he say he will cause us to do? Walk in his statutes—his laws. Of course, we’re not under the Law of Moses. (Remember, Paul says we died to it.) But the Jews in Ezekiel’s time were, so God is speaking to them in language they would relate to. Put into our context, he would say, “I’m going to cause you to walk in my ways.” Which means what? Trusting him and loving one another.
The rest of this promise was:
“… and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” (Ezekiel 36:27)
It’s not a command; it’s a promise. God is saying, “I’m going to cause you to walk in my ways, and when I do, you actually will walk in them. You actually will be trusting me, and loving others.”
So how does he cause this? By coming to live inside us! Living his life inside us is completely natural for him. And so he “causes” us to walk in his ways.
Does this mean we’re like robots now? No, not at all. This life he’s designed is much more dynamic than that. But our role is not to produce the life by trying hard. Only he can produce the life. Our role is to walk by faith.
God has solved the problem of “How can I live the right way?” Like everything else in this new arrangement, it’s a gift. We don’t receive it by trying harder. We receive it by believing what he says. We live it by trusting in Christ in us.
Jesus said to his followers, “If you’re worn out, come to me. I’ll give you rest. My yoke is easy. My burden is light.” If God seems burdensome, we aren’t seeing him accurately! If the Christian life seems burdensome, we’re trying to live it in a way God never intended!
How could Jesus say his yoke was easy, and his burden light? Because Jesus knew that he himself was going to come live in us. That makes it easy. Trying to keep all of God’s commandments through our own effort, that’s hard. Trying to be like Jesus, that’s hard. Trying to do everything like Jesus would, that’s hard. Trusting Jesus to live his own life through us—that’s easy!
It’s like Jesus’s illustration of the vine and branches. The vine provides the life. That life flows through the branch and becomes fruit. But the branch isn’t trying hard to produce fruit. It’s simply letting the life (Jesus) flow through it.
Is this in some ways a mystery? Absolutely. But it’s exactly how God designed us. It’s how Jesus lived with the Father. And it’s what God intended for us all along. The “abundant life” Jesus promised? This is it—God himself “causing” us. God himself living through us.
Here are some of the places in the Bible where God explains what we just discussed:
We died to the Law of Moses: “Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.…But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.” (Romans 7:4, 6)
We live by simply trusting: “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17b, ESV)
Also, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Galatians 3:11b, ESV)
Also, “But My righteous one will live by faith.” (Hebrews 10:38)
Also, “Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him …” (Colossians 2:6)Jesus’s yoke is easy: “‘Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.’” (Matthew 11:28-30)
