Daily Thought For January 18, 2021

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 The Law of the Spirit


We Christians are indeed under the law as other men, but, as I have already said, it is the new law, the law of the Spirit of Christ. We are under grace. That law, which to nature is a grievous bondage, is to those who live under the power of God’s presence, what it was meant to be, a rejoicing. When then we feel reluctant to serve God, when thoughts rise within us as if He were a hard Master, and that His promises are not attractive enough to balance the strictness of His commandments, let us recollect that we, as being Christians, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, and let us act upon the conviction of it. Let us go to Him for grace. Let us seek His face. Let us come where He gives grace. Let us come to the ordinances of grace, in which Christ gives His Holy Spirit, to enable us to do that which by nature we cannot do, and to be “the servants of righteousness.” They who pray for His saving help to change their likings and dislikings, their tastes, their views, their wills, their hearts, do not indeed all at once gain what they seek; they do not gain it at once asking; they do not perceive they gain it while they gain it, but if they come continually day by day to Him, if they come humbly, if they come in faith, if they come, not as a trial how they shall like God’s service, but throwing (as far as may be) their whole hearts and souls into their duty as a sacrifice to Him, if they come, not seeking a sign, but determined to go on seeking Him, honoring Him, serving Him, trusting Him, whether they see light, or feel comfort, or discern their growth, or no, such men will gain, though they know it not; they will find, even while they are still seeking; before they call, He will answer them, and they will in the end find themselves saved wondrously, to their surprise, how they know not, and when their crown seemed at a distance. “They that wait on the LORD,” says the prophet, “shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint” (Isa. 40:31).

—Excerpt from: Parochial and Plain Sermons, Book 4. Sermon 1. The Strictness of the Law of Christ

Newman, J. H. (2010). Life’s Purpose: Wisdom from John Henry Newman (pp. 31–32). Boston, MA: Pauline Books & Media.

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