We must approach our redo for godliness with diligence. This daily devotional looks at why God requires us to be diligent when we seek Him.
Nuggets
- We must diligently sustain and grow our faith in order to please God.
- Without faith, our relationship with God cannot be restored.
- Disciples of Christ have to be diligent because faith isn’t easy.
- Faith unlocks all the blessings associated with being God’s children.
- We have to diligently seek Him to grow faith.
To read devotions in the Redo for Godliness series, click the appropriate button below.
Devotions in the Moralities Lead to Godliness series
For the next three devotions, we are going to take a right turn. We have been looking at Manton’s sermon entitled The Moralities of Christianity. Bird’s sermon Christian Morality added three other essential moralities that will help us in redoing our character.
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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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Diligence is a consistent, persistent effort. We’ve talked about this before.
Devotions in the Consistency Needed for Spiritual Growth series
Our Diligence Is Required by God
“Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Heb. 11: 6 CSB)
We must diligently sustain and grow our faith in order to please God.
Oh, man. Is this verse packed!
- Faith is essential.
- Faith isn’t necessarily easy.
- Faith is worth it.
- Seeking Him is essential.
If faith is essential, what is it? 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.
Noel added an interesting expansion to that definition. He wrote, “… the term, faith, ‘expresses a confidence or persuasion of the truth of anything not self-evident, received upon the testimony of another.’” He added the element of the belief of others informing our beliefs.
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Faith Is Essential
Without faith, our relationship with God cannot be restored.
We have to take someone else’s testimony and determine if we believe that to be true. This testimony can either be through the written Word or through other disciples sharing their faith.
That means we have to believe the source is credible. Some non-believers may question that because there are things we will never understand. We just have to take them on … faith.
Let’s look at it this way. God will tell us what we need to know. He will reveal Himself to us — even more than is in the Scriptures — once we have submitted our lives to Him.
Okay, I have to process this. Tillotson asked the question, Can our response to divine revelation be called faith? Let’s work through Tillotson’s arguments.
- A narrow notion of faith says we can’t have a divine revelation because we would need another divine revelation to convince us that the first really was a divine revelation.
- The broader notion of faith believes that the persuasion of the mind can be fostered by anything — one which “thing” can be a divine revelation.
- The determining factor is if we believe it is a divine revelation.
Tillotson gave us the perfect explanation of how divine revelation can happen. He wrote, “God can work in the mind of man a firm persuasion of a thing by giving him a clear and vigorous perception of it; and if so, then God can accompany His own revelations with such a clear and overpowering light as shall discover to us the divinity of them, and satisfy us thereof beyond all doubt and scruple.”
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Noel reminded us why it is harder to accept divine testimony. He contended that our judgment is impaired because of sin.
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Faith Isn’t Necessarily Easy
Disciples of Christ have to be diligent because faith isn’t easy.
Is it easier to believe the written Word than someone else’s testimony? The written Word is God Himself talking to us. Wouldn’t that be easier to accept.
What helps us believe in God?
- It isn’t a case of seeing is believing in the usual sense of the word. Instead, we have to see with the eyes of our hearts.
- A person who is attached to the worldview would have a hard time embracing the Godview. Faith calls us to turn away from worldview standards and submit to God’s laws and commandments.
- In order to believe, we have to have some knowledge. No, we won’t understand it all. If we did, it wouldn’t be faith driving our acceptance of God.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Spurgeon gave us a snapshot of the process. He said that knowledge is the precursor to faith, and faith is the precursor to salvation. It all hinges on free will.
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Then after we choose to believe, we have to make changes in our lives to align with what we now believe. That can be very difficult at times!
Tillotson gave us a couple of hints on how it can be easier. The ease of our accepting our faith is tied to our disposition and habits. If our makeup allows us to declare God is our Sovereign and pattern our lives to reflect that, it is easier.
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Faith Is Worth It
Faith unlocks all the blessings associated with being God’s children. One of those blessings is having faith in the future reward. Noel used the words triumph and rest to describe those rewards.
We know that God’s rewards will be good because He is good. He will reward us in this life.
But God will save the best for last. That future reward is eternal life with Him. We will get to spend eternity in His presence.
This reward isn’t for the select few. It is for everyone who puts their faith and trust in Him and confesses that He is Sovereign God.
Cilpin reminded us that the best rewards will be for His children. He wrote, “But if the reward be holy, the expectation of it, or, if you please, the making it a motive of action, must be virtuous likewise.”
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How can we expect to get a holy reward for an unholy lifestyle? Are we thinking He is just going to give us a participation trophy?
No, God rewards obedience. He rewards faith. He rewards submission.
Seeking Him Is Essential
But what does that have to do with diligence? We have to diligently seek Him to grow faith.
It is going to take more than a one-hour-on-Sunday-morning deal. It is going to take more than a five-minute-daily-appointment-to-read-these-devotions deal.
Those are starts.
It is going to take commitment and effort to truly seek God. It will take daily communion with Him.
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).
Tillotson wrote that faith is a persuasion of the mind. To me, that kind of smacks with we talk ourselves into believing.
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While we do process to get to the point of belief in God, I believe it is more of a choice. Are we going to believe and submit or not?
Verse Commentary
Making the Connections
So, this devotion has not gone the way I thought it would when I sat down to write. I guess someone needed to hear this today. I will have to save the rest for the next devotion.
What does faith have to do with diligence?
I think it is the other way around. Diligence has everything to do with faith.
We must be diligent in searching for God before we ABCD. Yes, God is going to come calling us. He won’t force us to choose Him.
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
That means we must be consistent and persistent in our efforts to learn about him. Knowledge is the precursor to faith.
However, just because we have the knowledge doesn’t mean we have the faith. Similarly, just because we have some faith doesn’t mean we have a rooted and grounded faith.
Glossary
There is only one avenue through which we gain faith. “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (Jn. 14: 6 NIV).
In order to become children of God, we have to admit that mankind was separated from God after the original sin, making us sinners. We have to believe Jesus paid the penalty for those sins to become our Savior and Redeemer. That leads to our confessing God as Sovereign God. We demonstrate the commitment we are making by submitting our lives to following His laws and commandments.
Noel brought up a great point. God really works hard to restore our relationships with Him.
- God devised the Plan of Salvation to address the penalty for our sins.
- He sets out to prove His existence and show His love for us our need of Him.
- He sends the Holy Spirit to us to convict us and to start mending the relationship.
Spurgeon told us why faith is so essential in our quest to redo for godliness. We can’t attain holiness without faith.
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Glossary
I never looked at it this way before. Spurgeon wrote, “Unbelief takes away the common ground upon which God and man can meet.”
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Even though we are made in God’s image, before faith we don’t have anything in common. Our goals are different. Our standards are different.
We are nothing like God.
Glossary
Faith changes us. It restores us to being holy like God.
How Do We Apply This?
We have to see God the way Noel described that a disciple should. He wrote, “The man who thus confides believes that God is, not simply that He exists, but that He exists as a kind, compassionate, generous God, to the soul that seeks Him.” We have to see God as Someone in Whom we can trust.
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Spurgeon said that we have to do three things in order to get to the point of faith. News flash, we have to continue to do these.
- We have to follow God’s moral laws instead of our own or the worldview’s.
- We have to respect and admire Christ and Who He is.
- We have to obey all of God’s laws and commandments, not pick and choose or try to rewrite them.
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We, too, have to answer the question Jesus asked His disciples. “‘But what about you?’ he asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’” (Mt. 16: 15 NIV).
Gracious Heavenly Father. We are to diligently seek You. When we do, we will find You. Find us and change us so that our character is more like Yours. Amen.
What do you think?
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