Thursday, October 18, 2012

October 19, 2012

"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness" II Peter 1:5-6

 
You are called to godliness. So am I!

 
Doesn't that sound good?

 
While it does sound good, there may be a small voice in the back of your head saying, "What? Me godly?"

 
That is because the natural man, the human nature, the sinful nature doesn't want to be godly - it wants to be GOD!

 
THAT'S the problem!

 
So, what's the answer?

 
Some would say that you can be godly if you keep the Commandments! Afterall, that IS the Law of God so if you keep His Law then you would be godly, right?

 
God's Chosen People tried that for centuries but Paul wrote to the Romans:
 
"What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
“Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;

 ruin and misery mark their ways,
and the way of peace they do not know.”
 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin." Romans 3:9-20

 
This is just one of numerous Scriptures that remind us that the Law was never intended to make us godly, it was given to limit the impact of our ungodliness AND to show how Holy He is and how unholy we are!

 
One of the reasons wrote this portion of Scripture in II Peter 1:5-6 is to challenge the foolish notion that we can become godly from the outside it. The big problem is not what you do but it is what you are! You can bathe a pig and put lipstick on him but he's still a pig!

 
A well-behaved Law abiding sinner is still a sinner!

 
Are you trying to attain godliness from the inside out? Have you bought into the myth of doing rather than the truth of being?