A 5-year old boy ran across the kitchen floor to answer the phone.
“Hello, is your mother home?” asked a woman on the other end.
“I’m sorry; she is changing the baby’s diaper and can’t come to the phone right now. May I take a message?” the boy replied.
“Yes, tell her Mary Jones called.”
“How do you spell Mary?” he asked.
“M-A-R-Y,” she replied.
After a long pause the boy replied, “How do you make an M?”
This little guy certainly was “ready” to take the message, but he simply wasn’t “able!”
What is great for us as believers is that we can always be ready and able.
We read this in Philippians 2:13:
“because God is working in you to help you want to do and be able to do what pleases Him.”
God is in the emphatic position here, so Paul is emphasizing that it is God who is constantly working in us or energizing us.
The Holy Spirit is our resource for maturity as we cooperate with the Him.
He must work in us before He can work through us.
It takes more than an example on the outside (see Phil. 2:5-11); it takes power on the inside.
The toaster cannot produce toast unless it is plugged into the wall outlet.
Only as we are plugged into Christ and remain in living contact with Him, will we have the power for victory and move to maturity.
There are two areas that the Holy Spirit works in us.
The basic need of the believer is a desire to want what is right and the ability to do it.
This verse shows that He does both.
He works on our will as we yield to the Him and gives us the desire to do God’s will.
But He doesn’t merely leave us with the desire to do His will; He provides the power needed to do it.
We are not to depend on our own strength, but on the all-powerful One who energizes us and empowers us to do His will.
We are not left to ourselves.
The indwelling Christ makes the abundant and victorious life a reality, not merely a possibility.
We are not like the 5-year old boy who answered the phone; he was ready but not able.
Christ works in us to be both ready and able.
Blessings!
Pastor Ken Keeler