Equipped to do God’s will
Today's reading Hebrews 13:20-25
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Today’s blog
“May God... equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever.” (Hebrews 13:21)
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All that Jesus has done for us is “so that we may serve the living God” (9:14). Jesus was born into this world with that specific dedication – “I have come to do your will, O God” (10:7) – and his followers have the same calling (Jn.17:18; 20:21). We are here to do God’s good will. That’s a daunting prospect but we can look to God to equip us for it.
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That equipping is rooted both in who God is and in what he has done for us. He is “the God of peace” who has brought us into covenant relationship through Jesus (20). And just as Jesus was raised from the dead by God’s power, the same power is now at work in believers’ lives through the Holy Spirit (Eph.1:19-20; 3:16-17). It’s because Jesus is alive and exalted to God’s right hand that he is able to be the “great Shepherd of the sheep” who goes before us and gives us life (Jn.10:11,27-28).
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It’s a privilege to do God’s work but the far greater privilege is that God is at work in us (Phil.2:12-13). In fact the more he “works in us what is pleasing to him”, the more we are equipped to serve him faithfully and fruitfully. There can be no greater equipping than to be “conformed to the likeness of his Son” (Rom.8:29). So it’s all “through Jesus Christ”, and therefore any praise for our good work comes not to us but to God, “to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (cf. Jn.15:8)
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(To dig a bit deeper into Hebrews 13:20-25 click here for some commentary notes.)