Issues of Life #120

Life at the Next Level #30

“But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.”

 2 Peter 1:5-8

    When God moves us from one level spiritually to another, everything changes. There is a greater emphasis on all that we do. For instance, a small sin or compromise at this level could be the very thing that brings us down at the next level. Responsibility to the call of God increases in life at the next level. We can no longer play around with the call on our lives. It is increasingly more important the further that we go in the Lord.

    Spiritual character cannot be neglected if we are to mature in the things of the Lord. Godliness is a natural by-product of being filled with the Holy Spirit. The Bible states that we are “being conformed into the image of Jesus.” We are being made like Him! The Father is not trying to make our appearance like Jesus. He’s not trying to make our voice sound like Jesus. No, it’s our heart that He is interested in transforming. The heart of Jesus is the goal of our “being conformed”!  Godliness simply means that we are becoming like Him. When we compare ourselves to ourselves, we don’t look too bad. But to compare ourselves spiritually to someone else is a grave mistake. We are not to compare ourselves to our Christian brothers and sisters. We are to compare ourselves to Jesus. When we do that, we can clearly see that we have a ways to go to be like Him. True godliness is tangible proof that we are becoming like Him.

    The world is watching to see if we have genuine character. We have everything to gain…..and everything to lose!

Continued…