The most popular teachings among Christians:
- Appeal to felt needs, not actual needs.
- Tell us we're victims, not sinners.
- Tell us we're wonderful just the way we are.
- Use only Bible verses that make us feel good about ourselves.
- Exclude verses that talk about holiness, dying to self, or obeying God's commands.
But God's love isn't like that. It's life-changing and full-bodied, including teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training (2 Timothy 3:16-17). God is holy and He expects holiness from His beloved children (2 John 1:6, 1 Peter 1:15-16).
Our old self is impure, ungodly, “corrupted by its deceitful desires.” Our new self is “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” But we are in process. We must daily “put off” our old self and “put on” our new self (Ephesians 4:17-24).
That which was natural for our old self is unnatural for our new self. And the only way we can change is through the supernatural indwelling of God's Spirit. We need His strength and guidance (Philippians 4:13).
We have an important part to play in this process of sanctification, so let's get serious about “putting off” and “putting on” so God can change us from the inside out (Philippians 2:12-13).
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For more encouragement see Transformed or Conformed to recognize why some Christians grow in their faith and some remain babies. And check out Aggressive Renewal to gain insights about renewing our minds in Christ. Both of these devotions only take one minute to read.
Thank you, Gail. This is a very timely post. I appreciate you!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tami. I pray you are having a blessed week.
DeleteGail
Amen. A friend and I talk about this all the time.
ReplyDeleteI love those kind of friendships, Michelle--the ones that keep us on our spiritual toes : )
DeleteThis is so dead on, thanks for posting this.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading about a hymn each day this year and after I read about it, I try to find a video of someone singing it. I know that a lot of times people leave out some verses because some of those old hymns can be quite long, but I've realized as I've been reading the whole songs that the verse(s) that are left unsung are usually the verses that talk about how wretched we are.
ReplyDeleteHow insightful for you to notice this. It's sad, isn't it? I heard some years ago that some church hymnals were changing the words of Amazing Grace from "Who saved a wretch like me" to something more palatable to our modern minds. But only when we realize we're wretched do we realize how wonderful His grace really is. Thanks for sharing this, and I think it's a neat practice to read old hymns. I have a couple of antique hymnals I may need to get out and look through.
DeleteThaks!
ReplyDeletethank you for posting this, Gail!
ReplyDelete