Hey Guys,
Recently heard a sermon where the preacher made a really good side point to the effect that we generally want to be better than we are now. There are habits we genuinely want to break and virtues we want to adopt. This wasn't even his main message but it was one of the parts that really stuck out to me. There are parts of us that want to be respected for all the right reasons rather than the wrong ones and, for the believers, a desire for the Father's approval. From a secular standpoint, moralistic behaviour are the mere byproduct of human evolution - a necessity for communal survival. For the regenerate Christian, these noble aspirations are evidences of God's grace.
I fall short so much of the time. While nonchristians would say I am too harsh on myself, I know my own mind and how easily it strays from God. So, ignoring worldly standards of right and wrong and comparing myself solely against God's standards, I know Edward to be selfish and prideful. As good and polite as I am externally, I know how deeply sin lies embedded in me. Yet there is so much grace and mercy! Not only that God would forgive, but that he would actively work in me to desire things of him. To want the painful sanctification that is so contrary to my own nature. And that is just it, our nature is self preservation and self glorification and with a tendency to shy away from thoughts and actions that would compromise either. God desires that we be conformed to his image and to worship him instead of ourselves. Would that we respond to these God-given desires to become better, instead of resisting them. Would that we put aside excuses and reasons for delay, and pursue a life of godliness and productivity.
Encouragement for the week: Be better.
Edward
"For it is God who works in you, both to will and to act according to his good pleasure." Philippians 2:13
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:17
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