God has given us what His expectations for us are. We’ve look at that several times. This daily devotional reviews and synthesizes those to give us a foundation for future devotions.
Devotions in the Review 101: Godliness series
We’ve talked several times about what God expects from us. We’ve called it our job description. We’ve called it characteristics and expectations.
The foundation of all of them is they tell us how we are to be godly.
So, I thought that the last review would be what we’ve said before. This time, we are going to shuffle it through our three sides of godliness.
- Our Relationship with God
- Obeying God’s Laws and Commandments
- Reflecting Him to Others
It will give us a foundation on which to build this year.
Our Relationship with God
- The defining aspect of being God’s elect is we are all to be holy (What Is Expected of Disciples?).
- It is only through faith that disciples attempt to imitate Jesus and exhibit true compassion, pity, and love (What Is Expected of Disciples?).
- God loves those who love and submit to Him (What Is Expected of Disciples?).
- We follow God’s opinions, not our own (What Else Is Expected of Disciples?).
- We have to work on every characteristic as a package deal. So, on the Sanctification Road, we should run everything we do through the greatest commandments. Is what we are going to say going to keep those commandments or break them? Does our attitudes foster patience, forbearance, gentleness, etc.? If we don’t love, we don’t have the right attitudes (What Else Is Expected of Disciples?).
- What I think the “… don’t sound a trumpet before you, …” (Mt. 6: 2 CSB) means is religion isn’t to be show (Disciples and Charitableness).
- Religion and its rituals are not what God wants. God didn’t want the circumcision without the holiness. He doesn’t want baptism without the holiness. There is no purity in the artificial or that which is designed to impress the worldview people (The Nominal Disciple).
- God doesn’t want this to just be an outward religion. He wants it to be an inward transformation (The Nominal Disciple).
- What Jesus was about was true religion — how it should be. We were created to worship the Father. We were made to be like Him (Disciples and Charitableness).
- What Paul was trying to get across was that circumcision is surface. God is looking for obedience, submission, and service. God is looking for a change in heart (The Nominal Disciple).
- Jesus warned us about motivation. His would have been a radical viewpoint in that day and age. The norm those days was to show you were religious by advertising how you were giving alms, praying, and fasting. Prayer and fasting are personal. Jesus told us that almsgiving should be, too (Disciples and Charitableness).
- God wants to see evidence that we have chosen Him. That evidence is our obedience. We have to live like we were converted. We have to do the progression. We have to undergo the sanctification. We have to submit (The Nominal Disciple).
- Humility means we have a real perspective about ourselves. But we have to realize that we should focus on our character, not our intelligence. We have to change our character to imitate God (What Is Expected of Disciples?).
- While we are in the process of being sanctified, we use charity to become more like God. We are to conduct our charitable activities for His honor and glory (Disciples and Charitableness).
- We have to be consistent. If we say we are disciples of God, we have to live obediently and not have double standards (The Nominal Disciple).
- We have to be genuine when we ABCD. We have to truly submit to God. We have to obey His laws and commandments (The Nominal Disciple).
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
- We need to build our relationship with God by working out our salvation (How Do We Work Out Our Salvation?).
- We have to determine what we believe so that we can answer questions when asked what we believe (How Do We Work Out Our Salvation?).
- Being a living sacrifice means that we offer God our everyday lives, which He can use as a witness to non-believers (How Do Non-Preachers Proclaim the Gospel?).
Obeying Laws and Commandments
- If we are righteous, we are imitating God. That would mean we are judging the situation as He would judge it (Disciples’ Duty to the Poor).
- Bag the pride (A To Do List for Life).
- Pick friends that are humble (A To Do List for Life).
- Don’t be a smart alack (A To Do List for Life).
- Think about what you are doing, and do what is right (A To Do List for Life).
- No matter how loving we are, we have to change to imitate God’s loving. That means we have to get to heart level (What Else Is Expected of Disciples).
- Some think disciples have to be doormats. That isn’t true. God knows we will encounter spiritual warfare — especially as we do more for Him. He is looking for boldness with humility (What Else Is Expected of Disciples?).
- We are to do the charitable acts through mercy (Disciples and Charitableness).
- We like to think that we are successful because of our knowledge and skills. Paul told us that the only thing we should boast about is God (The Lenient Judgment of Others).
- John 7: 24 tells us we are to judge based on righteous judgment. What if it is how we live our lives? What if this means we are not supposed to judge surface, but we are supposed to judge deep down? We are not to pass judgment on people, but we are supposed to determine if they are following God’s laws and commandments. No, no one is going to be 100% perfect. We have to determine if we need to witness to them (The Lenient Judgment of Others).
- We are not to let other lead us astray (The Lenient Judgment of Others).
- Most importantly, our job is to preach the gospel and make disciples. How can we do that if we don’t determine if they have admitted their sins, believed on Jesus, and confessed God as Sovereign Lord? (The Lenient Judgment of Others).
- We have to judge situations. We have to judge intent of people’s actions. If we don’t, we may be headed off the straight and narrow (The Lenient Judgment of Others).
- Our actions do not depend on what other’s actions are (A To Do List for Life).
Reflecting Him to Others
- Help the needy saints (A To Do List for Life).
- Be hospitable (A To Do List for Life).
- Don’t be enemies with your enemies (A To Do List for Life).
- Whatever emotions someone is experiencing, experience those, too (A To Do List for Life).
- Get along with one another (A To Do List for Life).
- Don’t hold back on love. Don’t pick and choose who you are going to love. Just do it (A To Do List for Life).
- God expects us to have a heartfelt sympathy for others (What Is Expected of Disciples?).
- To be a true disciple, pity and love must follow repentance (What Is Expected of Disciples?).
- Love is expressed through kindness. Kindness is the action (What Is Expected of Disciples?).
- We don’t argue — if we answer at all (What Else Is Expected of Disciples). We don’t pay back evil with evil (What Else Is Expected of Disciples?).
- Not only do we have a modest demeanor, but we also elevate others (What Is Expected of Disciples?).
- We’ve got to stand firm patiently (What Else Is Expected of Disciples).
- We shouldn’t participate in the quarrel in the first place (What Else Is Expected of Disciples?).
- Forbearance is not only forgiving another, but it is also going the extra distance to meet them halfway (What Else Is Expected of Disciples?).
- We not only give up the right to retaliate, but we also initiate the forgiveness. Plus, we give up the hurt feelings (What Else Is Expected of Disciples?).
- We need to forgive for our sake, not necessarily theirs (What Else Is Expected of Disciples?).
- Why can’t everyone just love everyone else? Sin bashed that (What Else Is Expected of Disciples?).
- But worldview people don’t want disciples to love them enough to warn them about their future (What Else Is Expected of Disciples?).
- We have to be concerned enough about the poor for action (Disciples’ Duty to the Poor).
- Family was to take care of family. God has a plan for our help for others. First, we are to help our biological family (Disciples’ Duty to the Poor).
- Instead of a brother being reduced to an alien, we have an alien elevated to the status of brother (Disciples’ Duty to the Poor).
- God calls His children to support each other. No, not everyone is a child of God (Disciples’ Duty to the Poor).
- Jesus called charity work the way we practice our righteousness (Disciples and Charitableness).
- Jesus told His disciple to not be judgmental of private individuals. It is not talking about public individuals (The Lenient Judgment of Others).
- Jesus knew we so often jump to conclusions. We see things as we are, not necessarily as the situation is. We can’t just make snap judgments (The Lenient Judgment of Others).
- We’ve got to lead with love and compassion, not judgment (The Lenient Judgment of Others).
- People believing the worldview equate disciples saying “sin no more” as judging. Isn’t it more that we are concerned for the spiritual condition of your hearts and lives? Telling someone to “sin no more” is not judging them. It is the ultimate expression of love (The Lenient Judgment of Others).
- We are to use our experiences when we witness. If I say this is something that happened to me or helped me in my walk as a disciple (it’s proved itself), you would be more open to trying it for yourself (The Nominal Disciple).
- Jesus explicitly tells His disciples – of which we are one – they are to witness to non-believers (How Do Non-Preachers Proclaim the Gospel?).
- We have to be prepared to defend what we believe and why we believe it (How Do Non-Preachers Proclaim the Gospel?).
Making the Connections
That is a lot of bullet points. If you are like me, you need it synthesized. So, let’s try this.
- Submit to God and follow God’s opinions, not our own, by exhibiting obedience, submission, and service (What Is Expected of Disciples?; What Else Is Expected of Disciples; The Nominal Disciple).
- Be holy because of a sincere, inward transformation (What Is Expected of Disciples?; The Nominal Disciple).
- Imitate Jesus through faith and righteousness by exhibiting true compassion, pity, and love (What Is Expected of Disciples?; What Else Is Expected of Disciples; Disciples and Charitableness; Disciples’ Duty to the Poor).
- Build our relationship with God by genuinely ABCDing and working out our salvation by navigating the Sanctification Road (What Else Is Expected of Disciples; How Do We Work Out Our Salvation?).
- Expand God’s kingdom by witnessing to by preaching His gospel and making disciples (The Lenient Judgment of Others)
- Follow God’s laws and commandments and use them to judge situations (A To Do List for Life; The Lenient Judgment of Others).
- Perform charitable acts to fellow disciples and non-believers alike with love, forgiveness, and forbearance (Disciples and Charitableness; What Else Is Expected of Disciples?).
Okay, that is a start. We’ll be adding to it and modifying it as we go this year.
Father God. We want to be holy and righteous like You. We want to be godly. Help us with our redo so that we can become what You want us to be – like You. Amen.
What do you think?
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