Now Playing: Felix Mendelssohn, "Violin Concerto".

“Of his fullness do we receive grace for grace; there is strength in Christ not only to sanctify and save us, but strength to support us under all our burdens and afflictions, and Christ expects that when we are under any burden, we should act our faith upon him to draw virtue and strength from him…. You will say, Can I have the strength of Christ? Yes, it is made over to you by faith: the Scripture says that the Lord is our strength, God himself is our strength, and Christ is our strength. There are many Scriptures to that effect, that Christ’s strength is yours, made over to you, so that you may be able to bear whatever lies upon you…. You must not therefore be content with a little strength… but you should be strengthened with all might, according to the glorious power of God….”

Why is it so hard to live as though this strength is really ours? In Ephesians 1, we are promised that God has given us every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus, and this strength that Burroughs points out is one of those blessings. Yet I do not experience this blessing. The barriers of unbelief and laziness--the fact that I can hardly discipline my mind to focus on these promises for more than five minutes while walking to class--probably have a lot to do with it. Isn't God the one who overcomes our sins, who is victorious over the enemy in us? Yet aren't we also responsible for our actions, for our obedience? Every time I begin to put forth strenuous effort, I become discouraged after awhile and relapse. But I'd far rather do that than trust God's grace more--that is just too terrifying. (!) Basically I'm afraid of believing that God loves me. The promises sound nice, but like Custard the dragon, I'd rather stay in my nice safe cage.