Thursday, September 15, 2016

Don't Be Statisfied With A Form Of Godliness - God Has More For You Than That

My Utmost For His Highest
 
We have renounced the hidden things of shame…  —2 Corinthians 4:2
 
“Have you “renounced the hidden things of shame” in your life— the things that your sense of honor or pride will not allow to come into the light? You can easily hide them. Is there a thought in your heart about anyone that you would not like to be brought into the light? Then renounce it as soon as it comes to mind— renounce everything in its entirety until there is no hidden dishonesty or craftiness about you at all. Envy, jealousy, and strife don’t necessarily arise from your old nature of sin, but from the flesh which was used for these kinds of things in the past (see Romans 6:19 and 1 Peter 4:1-3). You must maintain continual watchfulness so that nothing arises in your life that would cause you shame.” CHAMBERS
 
(2 Corinthians 10:5) “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” We must be careful when we read devotions and even the Bible that we treat them like some source of self-help.  Certainly we must take action on truth – that is called obedience – but we must stop treating our new life like it is one-in-the-same as our old life.  If you could not live life rightly on your own before you were a Christian, what makes you think that you can now.  When you are admonished to renounce or take captive … it is in the context of your new life led and empowered by the Spirit and fueled by faith.  What you can do is make the decision to yield to God and not yourself.  That is a matter that must be resolved in the heart.  If you are having a problem with living a double life … the form of godliness but denying the power that comes from God (2 Timothy 3:5) “holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power”, repent. 
 
We all struggle with the tension between our old nature and the new.  We all try to live our new life in our own power to some level.  The result is a life that falls short of what God has intended for us.  Being religious and being a Christian is not the same.  The former depends on you, the latter depends upon God.  The former actually keeps you at a distance from God, the latter draws you close to God.  The former is pleasing to men, the latter pleases God.  (Matthew 6:1) “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.”  The former brings failure and the latter victory.  So why do we prefer the former … because we lack the faith necessary for the latter. Those who have ears, let them hear.  Those who have eyes let them see.   ELGIN

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