day no. 16,629: Christ or the Christless

"If we are to be truly free, we must be bound to the laws of words of God. This is because the only alternative to submission to Christ is submission to Christless men." — Douglas Wilson, Westminster Systematics

Imposition is inescapable. Someone will submit to someone else. The world is hierarchical. Authority is hard-wired into it. Submission, therefore, is also inescapable. We will either submit to the Christ or to the Christless. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. His law is liberty. His Word is truth. Where He isn't there is tyranny, overreach, slavery, addiction, and the gnashing of teeth ad infinitum.

James 1:25

But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

Good works are acts of gratitude. They are grace-fueled and full of grit. The Christian gets after it only after getting got. He takes hold because he has been held.

Tenacity is tangible thanksgiving.

Perseverance is palpable praise.