Stumbling Into Godliness

Wow...it has been too long! Haha...almost 20 days ago was my last post! Sorry about that, by the way, but it has been a crazy past month! I am back at school for CA (RA) training and that has kept me busy every day we have been here! Students come in on Saturday and I am sooooooo stinkin' EXCITED!!! I am praying that God would do incredible things on this campus this year and I know that He is going to be faithful in those requests!

Something that I kind of stumbled into in my time with the Lord in these past couple days has been thinking more and more about the process of sanctification. Sanctification means "to be set apart from" or "become holy". Obviously in my walk with the Lord this has been a huge part of my prayer life; I have prayed often that God would make me more holy and help me live the way He wants me to....and that has been the extent of my sanctification process.

As I was traveling through scripture these past couple days and listening to various sermons I have come across this idea of discipline in sanctification. Now this seems like a pretty simple thing to discover or come across, but I had never really put much thought into it before. I had always assumed that if there was any trace of my own effort in trying to become more holy, it was illegitimate because it was being done in my own power. I would just pray for holiness and sanctification and continue living the way I was living. This IS NOT how sanctification works!!! There is a discipline element to growing in godliness; it never just occurs. No one just wakes up and knows the Scriptures and prays constantly...it is to be worked at.

Before people start jumping down my throat, just hear me out...but I think there needs to be more effort on our ends in the sanctification process. Not effort in our own power, but effort through the Spirit, only by the power of Christ...grace-driven effort. The only effort that will matter is if God allows us, by His grace, to do those things and Him making us more holy.

Look at John 5:14...Jesus has just healed a man and has run into him again. Jesus gives him an odd warning; "stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." Jesus tells the man to stop sinning! But wait a second....I know what you are thinking...as a sinful human being I cannot just stop sinning! Its in my very nature to do so! When Jesus says "sin no more", he doesn't mean on your own. He is saying "Look what I've done! Wake up! I've come into the world to save sinners, I've come into the world to change things. LOOK to me; KNOW ME! And in the power you have just experienced, fight your sin! Fight, through the strength and Spirit I have given to you." Another example...

In Colossians 3:5 Paul instructs the Colossians to "put to death" their sinful nature. In the Greek, this is a command of action; a direct command to murder. God is telling us in this verse that we need to murder those things that hinder us. He is saying put to death sexual immorality, lust, greed, idolatry because if we do not do something about these "little sins" we are creating in our own souls a climate ripe and ground fertile for "varsity sins". The reason we need to violently attack even the "small sins" is because they create this enviornment conducive to the growth of sins that will destroy and harm not only our souls, but slander the name of God and wound and hurt all of those around us.

John Piper talks about this idea of putting to death of our sinful nature:

"The only possible attitude toward out of control desire is a declaration of all out war. I hear so many Christians murmuring about their imperfections and their failures and their addictions and their shortcomings and I see so little war! Murmur, murmur, murmur...why am I this way? MAKE WAR! There is a mean, violent streak to the TRUE Christian life. Violent to whom or what? Violent on every impulse in our souls to be violent to other people. Violence of mean streak in Christianity against our own selves and all in us that would make peace with sin and a settling in the peacetime mindset. A violence against all lust in ourselves. All enslaving desires for food, caffeine, sugar, chocolate, alcohol, pornography, money, the praise of man, approval of others, power, fame...this is our enemy! This is where we make war! It is a violence against all racism in our souls, all sluggish indifference to injustice in our souls. A violence against all indifference to poverty and abortion. The only foothold Satan has in your life is your flesh and your sin. Nobody goes to Hell because of Satan, the only reason we go to Hell is sin. Much more than fighting Satan is fighting sin. My biggest enemy is not Satan...my biggest enemy is John Piper, and he is the only reason I will go to Hell, not Satan. Satan doesn't have NEARLY that kind of power! Christianity is not a settle in, live-in-peace-with-the-world-the-way-it-is-religion like most Christians live their daily lives."

I agree %100 with Piper in that we all live these lives, not knowing or not wanting to face the reality that we are at war. We are at war with demonic forces and we are at war with ourselves and our sinful nature! It is about time that we pick up our swords and learn to fight; learn to swing!

Not only do we need grace-driven effort in bringing violence against our sin but we also need it in getting in the word, praying, memorizing scripture, etc. All of these things do NOT come easily and will most likely NOT happen over night. What do you think is the reason Paul says to "LABOR with him in prayer" and "TRAIN yourself in godliness" and "be on your GAURD; STAND FIRM in the faith; be men of courage; BE STRONG"? Its because he knows that it is not easy and that it is going to take EFFORT and a lot of it! Effort that cannot come from you or me, but only by the grace of God and only when we ask for it.

No one stumbles into godliness...

Let me repeat that...


NO ONE STUMBLES INTO GODLINESS!


Holiness doesn't just happen over night...it is something that is to be worked at and chased after. We need to be actively pursuing righteousness. If you are doing nothing today in regards to godliness and if you are tolerating the sin in your life, today's sins will beget more sin later. And while you are allowing it to grow and flourish, you are also suppressing sanctification and godliness to grow in your life. We must have a devotion to these things, making them disciplines in our lives to grow in holiness.


Father, I pray that we could go to you for our strength. I plea that you would allow us to strive toward you, Lord. We know that we can do nothing without you and trying to develop godly habits without you is impossible. I beg, God, that you would cultivate in us a desire to grow in holiness and I request that you give us the means necessary for that process. Give us yourself, Lord...give us your Spirit so we can act upon what we learn from your Word. I pray that we could take it from learning and put it into action. God give us the strength.