It is an unfortunate reality that it is possible to be regular in reading the Scriptures and being exposed to Biblical teaching and preaching and yet remain unchanged.
The hymn writer said that we are “prone to wander…prone to leave the God I love?” Why is that so? A number of possibilities exist:
- We substitute rationalization for repentance (e.g., Simon in Acts 8:17-24)
- We substitute our (sinful) desires for God’s (righteous) desires (Js. 4:1-2; Ps. 37:4)
- We substitute interpretation for application (Mt. 23:23)
- We substitute superficial obedience for substantive life change (Hos. 6:6; Js. 1:22-25)
Maybe we can just summarize it this way — we are prone to wander because we do not intentionally purpose to have Christ as the center of our lives. He is not the reason we live; He is not the great delight and satisfaction of our souls. We are prone to being happy in something (anything?) other than Christ.
Remember also that the object of life is not merely to change the outward appearance of the believer. The objective is heart transformation — so that one’s internal inclination is towards Christ. If there is only external change without inward transformation we have only succeeded in creating moralists — those who have the appearance of righteousness but without the reality.
Spurgeon comments:
The object of the soulwinner is not to bring men to an outward religiousness merely. Little will you have done for a man if you merely make the Sabbath-breaker into a Sabbath-keeper, and leave him a self-righteous Pharisee. Little will you have done for him if you persuade him, having been prayerless, to be a mere user of a form of prayer, his heart not being in it. You do but change the form of sin in which the man lives, you prevent him being drowned in the salt water, but you throw him into the fresh; you take one poison from him, but you expose him to another. The fact is, if you would do real service to Christ, your prayer and your zeal must follow the person who has become the object of your attention, till you bring him absolutely to close with grace and lay hold on Jesus Christ, and accept eternal life as it is found in the atoning sacrifice. Anything short of this may have its usefulness for this world, but must be useless for the world to come.
So we lay aside the deeds of the old man and lovingly embrace Christ as the great motive of our lives — not so we can impress others (or ourselves!) with outward conformity to Christ, but so that we might be pleasing to Him.
Words of Grace 