God’s intent is to transform our character to be like His. This daily devotional reviews how God does that through our service to Him.
To read devotions in the Redo for Godliness series, click the appropriate button below.
Going through the nuggets from the newsletters, I had a lot left over that seemed like they were on miscellaneous topics. I didn’t want to miss these, so we are going to be looking at them for the next couple of devotions.
I went through and sorted them by topic. I’ll just have to see how they shake out.
We tend to get anxious, especially when we are called to serve God. We serve a God of love, Who will transform each of us that submit to Him. We do this by making Him first priority, so that we can change to have His character.
Transformed
- We are transformed into obedient children of God. We humbly want to serve Him (Transformed to a New Mind).
- Transformation must include our bodies, minds, and souls (Transformed to Perfection).
- Our joy from being transformed as well as the the evidence of these changes must bubble out from us. Others have to see the changes that are occurring in us (Transformed by Persistence).
- We are given grace and faith. That gives us the credence that we can rely on God to transform us from a prideful person to a humble one (Transformed to Humility through Grace).
- The whole reason we do the transformation is so that we experience the Will of God. We find out what Romans 8: 28 really means (Transformed to a New Mind).
- If our transformation to perfection was all about what we do, what we might be doing might not necessarily be for God. We might be part of a Save the Kids, Save the Animals, Save the Planet organization that — though they do good work — aren’t working to glorify God, but the worldview. Instead, we are to change our character to be like that of God’s. We are to kick the world’s moralities up to spiritual graces heading toward holiness (Transformed to Perfection).
- Transformation is an opening of the mind so that we develop of it to change us to possess the character of God (Transformed to Unconformity).
- Being transformed is more than just not sinning. When we are tempted by a sinful situation while interacting with the world, we are called to not commit the sin. But transformation is more than that. We are not called to abstinence alone. What good — really — is it going to do us to abstain from something but still thinking about it constantly. That really isn’t abstaining (Transformed to Unconformity).
- The inward has to be in step with the outward when we are transforming into what God wants us. It isn’t that we don’t do something. It is that we don’t want to do it because we now hate it (Transformed to Unconformity).
- We are to transform into God’s image (Transformed to Unconformity).
- The transformation must be genuine. Head knowledge is not enough. It must transform our hearts. When we present ourselves daily as a living sacrifice, God will reveal Himself to us as we grow and can understand more (Transformed to Unconformity).
- We can set our affections above because we have gained access to God once we are changed to possess Jesus’ righteousness. The good news is, because we are the bride of Christ, His righteousness becomes ours (Why Do We Set Our Affections Above?).
Character
- The kingdom of God is a soul kingdom so that God can control our character (The State of the Kingdom of God).
- Disciples are to honor God’s name by acknowledging His nature. If we are trying to redo for godliness, we need to redo our character (Morality to Honor God; Who Do We Please?).
- Our morality is shown in our motives, not our actions (Transformed by Persistence).
- The duality of personalities is not that for what God is looking. He is not looking for us to portray ourselves as someone we are not. We have to watch comparing ourselves to what others think of us (Transformed to Love; Transformed to Humility through Grace).
- There has to be harmony of character. We are all to have the same character — God’s. Regardless of whatever qualifier we try to put on, all of Christ’s disciples must have the same character — Jesus’. We are called to imitate Him because He is imitating God (Transformed to Unity).
- This is where, in the midst of a trial, God shows us His nature. He wants us to understand — as much as we can — Who He is (Transformed to a New Mind).
- Our characters aren’t scrapped because we are already made in God’s image. But the problem is we are also made in Adam’s image. So, we need all the sinfulness cut out so all that is left is God’s character in us (Transformed to a New Mind).
- Jesus mingled with people, yet He was distanced from them in character (Focusing Our Thoughts on God).
- Disciples must show good moral character in order to show worldview people their faith. It shows the depth and the genuineness of our faith (The Commandment of Morality).
- Our persistent application of moral virtues to our lives is the foundation of virtue and morality. Hmmmm. Kind of sounds like a circular definition, doesn’t it? But then again, I see it. The application of His moral virtues is the foundation of making our virtues and morality what He wants them to be (Transformed by Persistence).
- Hope can only really come from moral goodness. That moral goodness comes from God (Transformed through Trials).
- God expects us to live our lives according to His character (The Law of Liberty).
Submission
- If we submit to God, we want to imitate Him. If we imitate His character, we live moral lives. If we live moral lives, God will provide us peace and safety (Peace and Safety Are the Rewards of Morality).
- If we refuse to submit to authority here on earth, how are we going to submit to the authority of a God we do not see? We can’t have the whole we-make-our-own-decisions-no-one-can-tell-us-what-to-do thing going. We have to allow the all-knowing God to inform our decisions (The Morality of Being Just).
- When we seek first the kingdom of God, that means we submit our whole hearts and lives to God (The State of the Kingdom of God).
- We are to imitate Jesus as He submitted to God rather than pleased Himself (Who Do We Please?).
- Can’t you hear it? [Insert whiny voice] “But I don’t understand, and it’s supposed to be all about me!” The me part is faith. The me part is submitting. In a nutshell, submitting means committing to live a sin-free life (The Focus of the Ministry).
- If we don’t do complete submission, we won’t achieve complete set apart. If we don’t get complete set apart, we don’t get complete perfection. If we don’t get complete perfection, we don’t get final salvation (The Law of Belonging).
Love
- Love is expressed by hating evil. Love is expressed by doing that which is good (Transformed to Love).
- When we cut something out of our lives, it is important to have something ready to fill that space. We should replace the evil with good (Transformed to Love).
- An exhibit of our conversion is our love. “If we love our brothers and sisters who are believers, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead” (I Jn. 3: 14 NLT). But look who it says are the objects of our love — fellow disciples. Not sinners. Believers (Transformed to Love).
- It is important that we perform worldly activities with a spiritual motive. Love is to be genuine (Transformed to Love).
- Love has to be displayed in our actions. If our words of love differ from our actions, then our words are only manipulation (Transformed to Love).
- But we can’t just be and not do. Because God is in us, the love and joy has to bubble out of us. We can’t keep it to ourselves (Transformed to Perfection).
- We may not be God’s equal, but we are beloved of Him (Attributes of God: Transcendent).
- What is required, according to Jesus, is love. His way. Not the religious way or the worldview way. Not the way that supports the lawyer’s views. God’s way (Learning about Love).
- When Jesus appeared to the apostles the first time after resurrection, they may not have been the on-fire apostles they would turn into, but they had the love for their Savior (When the Unexpected Happens).
- Not only is God righteousness, but God is also love. Love and peace go hand in hand (How to Promote Peace).
- God calls us to love Him, praise Him, and serve Him. We will find peace and joy when we do (The State of the Kingdom of God).
- Humility, love, and faith promote peace (How to Promote Peace).
- We have to love the True God. We can’t say we love God because He gives a pass to sinners (How Do We Overcome the Original Corruption of Bad Thoughts?).
- Endurance and encouragement can only come from God when we live our lives imitating Jesus and loving one another (Glorifying God through Patience, Endurance, and Unity).
Service
- There is only One true God that we all serve (The Law of Liberty).
- In our passionate service for God, we need to be completely committed to doing the work to which He has called us. We have to work in the service project that God has designated. We can’t go off and do our own thing, and expect God to sanction our work (Transformed by Persistence).
- If we want to serve God — which we should — we should want to serve Him the way He wants us to serve. Oh, yeah. He is going to stretch our comfort zones. He is going to ask us to do some things that have us scratching our heads in wonder. But God knows past, present, and future. He knows the perfected us. He knows our knowledge and abilities even better than we know ourselves (Transformed to being Servants of God).
- God wants us to be genuine in serving Him. Our service to God must be voluntarily (Don’t Slander Our Good; The Law of Belonging).
- God wants disciples to be givers. Yes, it may be money. He also wants our time. He wants our talents. He wants our passions and concerns. He wants all of us. He wants us to do whatever He calls us to do (Transformed to being Servants of God).
- God calls us all to have a part in His ministry. We are to have the right qualities to serve Christ. Whoever serves Christ is righteous, peaceful, and joyous. We must possess these three qualities to serve Christ. If we don’t, we don’t really serve Him. We are just going through the motions (Transformed to Unity; The State of the Kingdom of God).
- God calls us to work to provide for ourselves (Focusing Our Energies on God).
- God calls us to work to know Him (Focusing Our Energies on God).
- God will equip us to do His work (The Expected Message).
- We want to make sure we are doing God’s work on His timetable. We don’t want to derail His plan (How to Promote Peace).
- The focus of the ministry is the Plan of Salvation that God designed and carried out through Jesus’ sacrifice (The Focus of the Ministry).
Anxiety
- You would think that disciples would not have anxiety. We have all of these promises from God. However, when our world starts to get shaky, the anxiety ramps up. We can’t seem to stop ourselves (Renewing Our Inner Person from Anxiety).
- Anxiety is caused by taking our focus off of God. It is like we don’t trust Him to do what He has promised — provide for us and take care of us (Renewing Our Inner Person from Anxiety).
- The flip side of that is when we value worldview things more than God things. That can cause anxiety as our focus is different than how we are made (Renewing Our Inner Person from Anxiety).
- Our anxiety should be tempered by the fact that God has us in the palm of His hand. He is in control (Renewing Our Inner Person from Anxiety).
- When we are anxious over the big things in life, then we really are doing it wrong if we don’t put it in God’s control. It is an indictment of our faith if we aren’t relying on God then (Renewing Our Inner Person from Anxiety).
- So, how are we supposed to combat our anxiety? Prayer. Supplication. Thanksgiving (Renewing Our Inner Person from Anxiety).
Father God. You have made us complex people. Yet there is one simple thing we must do. We just have Your character. Having Your character means we are submitted to You and serving You in the way You have called us. Help us to live for You. Amen.
What do you think?
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