STIR up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
This Sunday is the last of the Christian year. We begin next Sunday with a new Christian year, as we enter the Advent season. The Collect for this Sun. is a good one for us as the year ends. It reminds us of the same kind of thing that the famous Anglican, Robert E. Lee, was famous for: finishing well. As the various seasons of our lives come to their end, be it the end of the school year for the student, or the end of life for the aged, we should seek grace from God to finish well; to not say, “Oh well, it’s almost over now, time to just coast.” A Christian is never to coast. We are to be faithful servants. Like the watchman on guard in an army camp, he is to be looking out for the enemy through the whole watch; not just at the beginning of it. He is to be faithful the whole watch through. So we, as we face the end of this last Christian year, we are reminded to be faithful and finish this year well, as we are to finish all things well.
But it also reminds us that, as we are beginning a new year, we are to seek the Lord’s mercy to enter it with our hearts stirred by His grace for new faithfulness for the future. We know not the challenges we may face, but we do know that we need the inner stirring and strengthening of the Holy Spirit to remain true to our Lord in the months to come. We wish to serve Him, but we know that, sinful as we still are in this life, if He does not stir us up now and then, we will grow languid, or lazy, or forgetful and thus unfaithful. So we pray, feeling our native spiritual poverty, “Lord, stir up the wills of your faithful people.”
Now this prayer raises several issues regarding how one lives the Christian life, especially with regard to what we are to do, how we are to do good works. These issues are very important if we are to effectively walk in the Lord’s grace and so I want to take some time to be sure we understand them.
First of all: it is necessary for us to use our wills to live the Christian life. Mind and emotion do not lead to action; commands are to the will.
Thus, a Christain must fight a passive attitude. The “let go and let God” idea of how to live in the Spirit can be very bad for people. It has been used to address people who do not understand grace and seek to obey God with their own “will power”; their own resources of human determination and stamina. But otherwise, it is dangerous.
Passivity can also be guilty; a way of refusing to act; “I’m waiting for God to move me.”
Secondly, the will must act by God’s grace. Thus we pray for God to stir it up; we want His power at work in our lives. The prayer is thus a recognition of the natural tendency to sloth and dullness; drifting. We tend to react to life intead of live out the will of God in an aggressive fashion.
Drifting can be evident in our praying. For what do we pray? Protection? Provision for our desires? Comfort requirements? Or do we pray for provision for tasks we are undertaking, strength for action, opportunities for greater service, provision for what we need for good works?
Objection: then should we not wait for inspiration? If we must have God’s grace in our lives; if we need Him to stir us up, then should we not wait for that stirring? The answer is no. We should assume he is working and, trusting him, act. We do not live by feeling (“Am I inspired or not?”) but by faith.
Deism is wrong in the doctrine of creation and it is wrong in the doctrine of sanctification. He has not and does not leave us alone. Read I Thess. 5:24, Phil. 1:6; Phil. 2:12,13. Thus, instead of waiting for a sense of His striving, I am to act believing His grace will be behind my actions, bringing His will to pass.
For example: the need to ask someone for forgiveness. Don’t wait for inspiration; do it. Trust and obey.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me; He is already working because He is committed to my faithfulness. I need to be committed as well and act.
Thirdly, we are to stir ourselves up! We are to take responsibiliy for our growth and service. II Tim. 1:6: Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.
See again Phil. 2:12; See II Peter 1:1-11.
So, as we enter this new Christian year and the wonderful season of Advent, let us seek God’s working in our heart. He wants to do it; so let us trust Him to do so. And then, let us stir ourselves up; let us watch and pray that not only we not do things we shouldn’t do, that we not drift and be passive about our lives, but that we actively do all those good things we should do for the honour and glory and love of Him, born of the Virgin Mary, crucified on Calvary, risen and seated on the throne of David, until He comes and raises us unto life everlasting! Amen.
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