God Does Not Command the Impossible
Drawn from the teaching of Professor Gary S. Maxey · 2 min read
God says, "Be holy, for I am holy." Some hear that and sink. They think the command is too high, and that God is a hard master asking for what nobody can give.
Professor Gary Maxey answers with one sentence in his book on the Highway of Holiness. God is not a cruel taskmaster who requires the impossible. He does not mock his children. A good father does not beat his child for failing at what is beyond him.
The logic of provision
His argument is plain. If God calls his people to be holy, then God has provided what is needed to make it possible. The provision is the cross. Isaiah says Jesus was wounded for our transgressions. Hebrews says he suffered to sanctify the people with his own blood.
Professor Maxey says the answer is not trying harder. It is not more fasting, more tears or more self-deprivation. It is a crucified life. "I have been crucified with Christ," Paul writes, and the life he now lives, he lives by faith.
The Spirit supplies the power
Professor Maxey points to Titus 2:11-12. The grace of God teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly desires. He quotes Galatians 5:16: walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. And he reads 2 Corinthians 5:21 as a statement of what the cross makes possible. God made Christ to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
A promise, not just a command
Professor Maxey also points to Ezekiel 36. God promises to sprinkle clean water on his people and give them a new heart. He says he will put his Spirit within them and cause them to walk in his statutes. The command is accompanied by a promise.
Not a call to pride
He never claims people become holy by their own strength. Our part is faith, he says, and the Spirit's part is to sanctify. We cannot do the Spirit's part. Without our faith, the work is not done.
What to do today
Take the biggest area where you think you must fail. Write it down. Find one promise in Scripture that speaks to it. Then pray that promise back to God each day this week, and watch what changes.
Drawn from the teaching of Professor Gary S. Maxey.
