Last week I wrote about coming to the light from John 3:21
“Whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
http://thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/2020/08/coming-to-light.html
I pointed out that this verse says wanting others to know that any good in you was done by God is evidence that you have been born again. That is clearly the point of this statement in the context of John 3. But this truth requires some practical application for those of you who have come to Christ. In the real world we need encouragement. Even if you have seldom thought about this, your tendency as a believer is to reach for His light like plants reach for the sun. We too are Heliotropes. But in our daily lives we need to develop the willingness to be honest about ourselves before God and the world. Let me point out four aids to such honesty.
First we need a Willingness to Repent.
You had to repent to come to Christ in the first place. But repentance needs to be a lifestyle. You continually God to search your heart. Psalm 139:23-25 prays,
“Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.”
I need to pray regularly for God to deliver me from the willingness to look better than I am, while asking God to change my heart.
We need to Desire to Please Him.
Often our willingness to give impressions of ourselves that are less than honest comes from fear of what other people will think of us. The only way to combat this in your own heart is to increase your desire to please our Lord.
We need a Willingness to Trust Him.
You can trust God to grow this desire in your life. You can trust that pleasing Him will be satisfying to you.
And we need a Desire to Praise Him.
Living in the light does not mean we go about moaning over sins. Instead, we are to focus on giving Jesus all the glory for what He is doing in our lives. You can only combat your desire to be honored by growing in your desire to praise and glorify God. You can regularly pray for His name to be glorified.
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