20

chapter 20

"'Do all to the glory of God,' and 'Ask all to the glory of God' - these twin commands are inseperable: obedience to the former is the secret of grace for the latter."

The big question of this chapter is 'what does it mean to 'do all' and 'ask all' to the glory of God? If the glory of God is so important, then how do we do it? I appreciate Murray's answer, which in a nutshell, is dying to self. As a result of this death, according to Murray, our will will be crushed and God's will, via the Holy Spirit, will come through every aspect of our lives. Our life will be His is how he writes it.

While I agree with Murray's answer, his language and stance might be a hiccup for some. Bob made the same point last night in a more digestible way - we are called to walk blameless (with nothing inbetween) before God. Dying to self is often thought of as this terrible lifestyle of hating ourselves and wretching on the floor of the prayer closet in tears. Dying to self certainly has 'death' involved - the death of our flesh - but it is not a death that we are meant to mourn because the death we experienced is replaced by the life of Christ. Instead of your focus being on what needs to die/how hard and painful and impossible it will be, try focusing on the goodness and beauty and mercy of God as your reward. God does not offer His life to us as some bone he is just throwing to us - remember, HE CAME TO US! He wants to give us His life.

hope this helps!