The Breath of the Soul: Countering Sin through the 7 Means of Grace
The last article I published was more than a month ago. It is about self-examination and spiritual honesty as essential steps toward accepting the grace of God. I emphasized the need to be honest with one's spiritual status, identifying the obstacles that prevent us from accepting His grace.
Now that I've reached direction 16, which talks about the means of grace in order for the divine seed to grow and flourish in Christian life, and read how Baxter identified seven of them, I want to capture all his ideas in one article.
Interestingly, my second son, @kopiko-blanca, also embarked on a writing project about the seven deadly sins. And here I am reading Baxter about the seven means of grace. I find it a beautiful coincidence that I am writing about the seven means of grace while my son explores the seven deadly sins. This is like an "antidote vs. poison" narrative.
The first means of grace is reading and listening to God's word and other spiritually edifying books. One of the sure indicators of new life is the hunger for God's word. Regular reading and meditation is the delight of a soul born of God.
Public worship is another means of grace. When we are spiritually down, depressed, and living with so many painful wounds in life, our usual reaction is to withdraw from the crowd. We don't want to associate with people whom we perceive as not helpful during the time when our struggles were intense. We are disappointed that after so many years of giving our lives to Christian service, in our time of need, we don't find anyone giving us comfort or just being simply there to listen with compassion and understanding. However, if we neglect this means of grace during those challenging times, we deprive ourselves of spiritual support through the prayer of the saints. If public worship is important for seasoned, suffering Christians, how much more in the case of new babes?
The third means of grace is private prayer. Baxter reminds us:
Prayer is the breath of the new creature (p. 83).
If a person is truly adopted into the family of God, he has been given the spirit of prayer to call God his Father.
In the natural world, no man can live without air to breathe. Likewise, in the spiritual world, a prayerless man would only mean a dying man.
The fourth means of grace is confession of sin. Here many would not disagree that confession primarily is done before God. However, Baxter qualifies three cases in which confession can also be made before men.
If you wronged somebody either by slander or theft. You have to confess your sins before him or her. There are also cases that you have to do extra as part of what they call restitution.
If you are under the responsibility of someone and you committed an offense. You could be a child or an employee. When your parents or your boss ask you to give an account of your offense, you are bound to confess to them.
The last case is related to your spiritual recovery in case you need the counseling of someone. You have to open up so he can identify the problem, guide, and pray for you accordingly. If the counselor doesn't know the disease, he will be unfit to apply the remedy.
Confession means one is willing to bring his offenses to light, correct them, and forsake them. If he or she refuses to confess, this only shows that the person is unwilling to repent and change his ways. Such a person could not expect spiritual recovery and prosperity from the Lord. What the Bible says is true:
He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy (Proverbs 28:13, KJV).
The fifth means of grace is joining the company of godly men and women. Some would call this Christian fellowship. A corrupt company would stifle the work of grace in your life. They will mock you for your spiritual pursuit. Staying in their company would divert your attention to something else, and that is why you need to avoid a company that wastes time on idle talks and sensual matters such as power, profit, and pleasure. Instead, associate yourself with godly men and women who delight to converse about spiritual matters.
The sixth means of grace is meditation about the life to come.
The last one is to find a spiritual mentor that will guide and counsel you in your spiritual journey. There are matters in our private life that are not appropriate for all to know. You can open them to your counselor so they can give you proper spiritual guidance. I like Baxter's use of a physician and a lawyer as analogies. As you need a physician to regularly check your physical health and as you need a lawyer to protect your assets, you also need a counselor to guide your soul.
While self-examination clears the ground of our hearts, these seven means of grace are the water and light that allow the divine seed to truly flourish in one's soul. By embracing these disciplines, a man under grace can experience growth and vitality in this gift of new life from God.