Disciples are to honor God with our lives. This daily devotional looks at how our morality honors the doctrine of God.
Nuggets
- God will reward our good faith when we accept the teaching of Jesus and imitate Him.
- We are to be ambassadors for the gospel by showing others to see their needs for it.
To read devotions in the Redo for Godliness series, click the appropriate button below.
Devotions in the Moralities Lead to Godliness series
Manton concluded his sermon entitled The Moralities of Christianity by telling us that religion should have honor. In the last devotion, we looked at aspects of dishonoring God. Here, we will look into honoring Him.
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Let's Put It into Context
“Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable — if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy — dwell on these things” (Phil. 4: 8 CSB)
The definition of moral, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is “of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behavior.” Morality, then, is “a doctrine or system of moral conduct.” When it is the plural form — moralities — it is a “particular moral principles or rules of conduct.”
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Our morals determine our character. Character, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is “the complex of mental and ethical traits marking and often individualizing a person, group, or nation.”
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Honor means to esteem and respect another because of a good reputation.
What Is the Doctrine of God Our Savior?
“not pilfering, but showing all good faith, ...” (Ti. 2: 10 CSB)
God will reward our good faith when we accept the teaching of Jesus and imitate Him.
“Do not steal” is one of the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20: 15 NLT). Pilfering paints more of a picture that the pilferer is casually taking whatever catches the eye.
Instead, we are to exhibit a faith that holds to “… the doctrine of God our Savior” (Ti. 2: 10 CSB). This is a fancy title for the institution of faith and manners that we call the gospel.
Think of it this way. Watkinson noted that we are to imitate Jesus, Who is imitating God. Ultimately, it is God’s character that we should display.
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Lambe reminded us that our faith has to be whole. Everything we believe and do — from the largest thing to the smallest — must be governed by our faith.
We talked once about the prayer bone has to be connected with the meditation/thought/mind bone, which is connected to the thankful/worship/heart bone. This connectedness honors God and strengthens our witness, especially if we are consistent in our faith.
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To read a related devotion, click the button below.
When we walk through life holding on to the teachings of Jesus, God will bless us. But it is more than just that.
How Do We Adorn the Doctrine?
"... so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior” (Ti. 2: 10 CSB)
We are to be ambassadors for the gospel by showing others to see their needs for it.
Lambe stated that we are “to govern and demean ourselves that we may reconcile its enemies to a good opinion of it; that we may procure and even force regard and veneration towards it.” We are to be its witnesses.
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Really, what that is talking about is our obedience. Others need to be able to see our obedient life and be introduced to God’s love. They see this through our worldly morals being kicked up to spiritual graces.
We can’t be begrudgingly obedient to God and think we are honoring Him. We have to be completely submitted to Him to cheerfully do His Will.
Oh, hold the phones. Maclaren took it another way. He talked about what we add to the gospel. He said we need to look into a telescope (the Scriptures) to capture sight of the heavenly bodies and add our reflection.
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We feel so inadequate at times. We are not pure like God. We don’t have a 100%-fruit-of-the-Spirit performance record.
But we do have much to add to the narrative of the gospel. (No, we aren’t adding to the gospel itself. We are adding to the report of it.)
Think about it. How did Paul add to the narrative? He showed us that we can start out totally against God and be forgiven and changed. He showed us that we can go through mega hardships to be able to use them for His glory.
How did Peter add to the narrative? He was uneducated and impulsive — and God was still able to use him. He was strong in his faith, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have his moments.
Persons of Interest
We add to the narrative when we lose our jobs and keep our faith firmly in Him. We add to it when we follow Him into a totally different occupation or location and show our obedience to Him.
No, we are not changing the gospel. We are adding to the reports of how that plays out in our lives today.
If we think about this, this is huge. Watkinson said this is what takes it out of the philosophy into the practical. That also takes it to a third P: proof. We know the gospel is true because it is evident in our lives — adorned for all to see.
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It is practical because it isn’t just at the mind level. It has to get down to the heart level.
In our own minds, we see ourselves not capable of doing the big things for God. We aren’t godly enough; we aren’t qualified; we aren’t in the right place at the right time.
We can come up with a lot of excuses.
We can serve God. Maclaren argued that this is done through the small things. No, we may not be able to be a missionary to some foreign land. But we can tell our family, our next door neighbor, and our coworkers.
It doesn’t have to be a Paul’s letter to the Romans. It can be a simple statement of faith.
That is a big way to honor God. Maclaren summed it up this way: “The best Illustrated Bible is the conduct of the people that profess to take it for their guide and law.”
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I’ve told you before that I can be a fake-it-till-you-make-it girl. Birch reminded us that it has to be more than just wishful thinking. “To be pure and truthful in all we say or do cannot be accomplished by merely wishing; it will probably take an entire life for a man to become genuine as Jesus Christ was.”
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That means it takes work. Some may be hardships. We will have lots of peaks and valleys. It will take our lifetime to work it out.
It will be worth it because we adorn the gospel by fulfilling our purpose in God’s kingdom. He has a plan for each of us. When we allow ourselves to be used by Him, Birch said we get to start Heaven early.
Beecher put things into perspective. He wrote that “… it is on account of the intrinsic beauty of moral quality that piety and religious life, in their higher forms, are spoken of in the word of God as beautiful; and the consummation of piety in the social estate, in the Church, whether in the present or in the future, is celebrated all the way through the Bible as beautiful.”
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Ooo, baby. I need Elaine-speak on that one. Inner beauty is tied up with our spiritual graces/enhanced morals. Those are leading us to be godly — holy and righteous.
This inner beauty is much more important to God than outward beauty. God said so Himself. “… For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart” (I Sam. 16: 7 ESV).
Making the Connections
Spurgeon reminded us of all of the greats associated with the gospel.
- Adam and Eve experienced a great fall because sin is great in so many negative ways.
- Their ruin was great because they were forced out of paradise.
- Their punishment was great because they had to give up face-to-face access with the Sovereign God.
- Salvation is great because it offers complete restoration.
- Redemption is great because it takes us from ruin back to paradise.
- Our hope is great because it is made up of both current and future aspects: faith and hope.
- Faith is the conviction that the doctrines revealed in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them, a belief which impacts our lives.
- Hope is a future expectation, called a living hope, based on the confidence that our names will be found in the book of life.
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The main theme is that it is all about honoring God. Yes, there is some great lows in that list. But because of God — only because of God — can we get to the great highs.
How Do We Apply This?
We need to imitate Jesus. Yes, we will fail sometimes — sometimes spectacularly. The only effect that should have on our faith is to make it grow, not diminish.
That means evaluating and planning. Where are we falling down? What do we have to do to get right with God?
I think a lot of times, we just coast and react to what comes our way. Birch challenged us to seek out opportunities to do good.
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We need to be the embodiment of the gospel. Others see it through our expressions of faith. They just see our transformations (so, sometimes that means showing them the things we really rather would have kept hidden, regardless of the ouch factor).
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We honor God by searching for Him and seeking Him. We honor Him by serving Him in the ways in which we are called.
Father God. We give You praise and honor in all we do. Help us to be witnesses for You. Amen.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
What do you think?
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