did you receive the Spirit from works of the law,
or from faith in what you heard?
Do we earn our salvation? We know that the answer is no on an intellectual level. Jesus Christ crucified is obviously something we cannot earn. We begin with the Spirit that pours from the wounded side of Jesus. We experience many things. We see mighty deeds that only God can do. When we bother to notice we realize that there is no way that these are deeds which we can earn and boast about. We are made worthy to share the lot of the saints in light. We are rescued from the powers of darkness and brought into the kingdom of Jesus Christ (cf. Col 1:12-13). The Spirit teaches us to call cry out to God as "Abba! Father!" (cf. Rom 8:15) It should be obvious that we can't earn that.
Yet over time we all become somewhat "bewitched" just like the "stupid Galatians". The thing is that we need persistence.
I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves
because of their friendship,
he will get up to give him whatever he needs
because of his persistence.
It is the one who endures to the end who shall be saved (cf. Mat. 24:13). It starts to sound a lot like work. It starts to sound a lot like we are in fact trying to earn something. But when the man goes to his friend at midnight to borrow bread his persistence does not pay for the bread even though it is necessary to receive it. What is happening here? In fact, we are being trained.
And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us (cf. Rom. 5:4-5).
All of this is only possible because of the Holy Spirit. Our endurance in suffering is made possible by the Holy Spirit. Only he transforms suffering into something which does not disappoint us. That is why Paul gets so frustrated with the Galatians. Once they start trying to earn their salvation they are neglecting the one hope which does not disappoint in favor of their own efforts.
The Father wants to bless us. We close ourselves to his blessings when we start to try to earn them for ourselves. It helps to hear him say, "ask and you will receive". We need to deeply know "how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?" We need to realize that even the persistence he asks of us is his gift.
When we know his goodness and his faithfulness our spirits are free to worship. We are able to praise him from the depths of our being, with all sincerity. We worship in Spirit and truth, no longer held bound by fear.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.
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