Such was the worthiness, which the apostle prayed and laboured to produce in the early disciples; and if, without this, we are hoping to be accepted of the Lord, “we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” The meetness indeed, of which we are speaking, is not exclusively our own; it must “be wrought in us of God;” still it is to be sought by prayer, and improved with diligence: “We are not sufficient of ourselves to think any thing, as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;” { 260} yet God will not fail to supply us with the means, if we pray for them and use them faithfully.
To this statement I request your especial attention; because there are professing Christians, who take an improper view of this important matter. Conscious of their own unworthiness in point of _merit_, they are apt to overlook that worthy _fitness_, of heart and character and life, which is necessary for every sincere follower, of Christ. The proclamations of their own undeservings, and their Saviour’s free love, are sometimes so loud and frequent, as to lower in their minds the sense of moral and spiritual obligation, as to make them relax in their duly to God and man; as if they were privileged to offend, because they extolled the Saviour, and debased themselves. This is a vain and a fanatical spirit: Christ alone is worthy to save; but we must endeavour, by His sanctifying aid, in all things to be made more and more worthy of the exceeding “riches of His grace.”
2. And, in order to encourage us in the goodly work, the Almighty, whose happiness is infinite and incapable of increase, graciously represents Himself as _pleased_, even with our imperfect services: “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.” “Though the heavens are not pure in His sight,” yet does He condescend to “visit man” with His favour, and “to regard the son of man,” who serveth Him, with an approving eye: He is pleased, because it is the fruit of the sinner’s reconciliation, by the death and sufferings of His beloved Son: for His sake, even the feeble struggles of the Christian, in the way of duty, if they be resolute and determined, are an acceptable service; even the spark of goodness, if it glow with sincerity in the bosom, is honoured and rewarded.