God sees us from an eternal perspective. He already gave
each Believer everything we need for a Godly life. His promises secure for us
the divine nature of Christ dwelling within us (2 Peter 1:3-4). Our carnal nature is
crucified with Christ, and now He lives in and through us (Galatians 2:20). Our
humanity died and we are hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3-4). The fruit of God’s Spirit
are part of that divine nature, which works within us.
It is humorous to me when Born Again Believers pray to ask
God for more patience, joy, love, self-control, holiness, faith, and kindness.
The Holy Spirit dwells within each authentic Believer and these characteristics
are His fruit (Galatians
5:22-23). We possess every one of them already. We just do not always
walk in them. When we feed our flesh, these fruit shrivel up; but when we live
in the Spirit, we naturally exhibit them to the world around us (Galatians 5:16-25).
As we stop to pray each moment of our day, the Holy Spirit
leads us in the works, which God created for us to do before the beginning of
time (Ephesians 2:10).
We live in Biblical truth and encourage one another to walk in holiness. We do
not support selfish corruption in one another or excuse sin. Instead, we exhort
one another to pursue holiness and not to allow the deceitfulness of sin to
harden us with pride and rebellion (Hebrews 3:13).
Jesus suffered humiliation and the overwhelming pain of
crucifixion in our place. The least we can do is to walk in the holiness He
made possible for us. A lady told me, "I hid in the church from the world;
and I was holier than a nun; but now I have a balance in my life. Everybody
sins and my sins are no worse than anyone else's." This makes me so sad,
because she is crucifying again the Son of God (Hebrews 6:6). God’s goal for us is
perfection, not mediocrity (Matthew 5:48).
Jesus calls us to live a holy and blameless life. If we
refuse to do this, we are slapping Him in the face, spitting at Him, scourging
Him and publicly crucifying Him all over again. We hold Him up for repeated
public disgrace by our shameful behavior (Hebrews 6:6). When we live in rebellion and
sin, we also hurt our eternal standing with God. He holds us accountable for
our works and only rewards us for walking in His righteousness (Matthew 12:36).
Prayer:
Father God, the world, the devil and our flesh will daily
deceive us and tempt us to walk in sin. However, those who are Born Again will
never practice sin as a lifestyle (1 John 3:4-10). Your Holy Spirit within us, convicts us and
holds us accountable to Your Truth. As we walk in Your Word, our faith matures
and we live closer and closer to You and further away from sin and destruction.
We fully commit our body, soul and spirit to You, in order to live according to
Your Word (1
Thessalonians 5:23).
Thought for the Day:
An existence filled with fulfillment and peace comes only
to those who totally commit to and surrender their life to Christ. - Psalm 31:5
