3 For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.
4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Titus 3:3-7

It is not as I have done but what He has done for me. God’s kindness and love comes to me and the Spirit is poured into me generously and abundantly because of God’s mercy. I have earned nothing through my work. I, however, am given what God provides through the blood of His Son on the cross – grace for my eternal soul.

The Holy Spirit is promised and given through our joining in earnest into a relationship with Jesus Christ. This joining requires the disposal of a foolish life and a selfish, self-serving disposition into loving obedience – listening for God’s direction. Our life we once dictated is now lovingly guided by the Lord through the Helper. Does this portray weakness to the unbeliever? Of course it does. It is as God wants because we are weak, we are fragile, we are unsure, and we need guidance. That is why we are part of His flock. If a sheep strays, the shepard does not allow separation. He will bring the strayed sheep back into the flock. So too will God. It is in His mercy we are always brought back home to Him.

This I am sure about as I live this life and always have hope and trust that Jesus did not die in vain but to deliver us from darkness and justify us as saints of God.