|
 Of
godliness, Vine says, “piety which, characterized by a
God-ward attitude, does that which is well-pleasing to Him.”
Lenski says, “The base of godliness is in the spirit; its
great field lies in the spiritual virtues ... When the truth
fails to produce godliness the truth has not entered the heart.”
Some day we will get around to recognizing that except for
instructions in details, telling people what God wants them to
do is not nearly as important as prompting them to want to do
God’s bidding.
We
have assumed a false premise; i.e., that our hearers are ready
and anxious to obey the Lord, and all we have to do is tell them
of the divine commands. We tell them, and make it very clear —
and just can’t understand why they do not obey. But failure to
do God’s bidding, even failure to know what God wants done,
is, in our land of Bibles and education, more lack of interest
and concern than lack of knowledge. Even sincere “truth
seekers” may make no distinction in the Bible and some
far-East Guru’s pronouncement. It is becoming increasingly
important that we delve more fully into the essence of
Christianity, and
|
|
“sell” its basic principles. People
must be brought to see that God is real, and their need for such
a God is equally real. A proper attitude must be formed — a
God-ward attitude — before we can bring souls to Him, or
expect faithfulness.
“Mint,
anise and cumin” follow or come as a result of judgment,
mercy, and faith (Matt. 23:23); and are of value only as they
manifest the first. In our (commendable) zeal to urge the
necessity of obedience we must not neglect to recognize that
genuine obedience can come only from a heart properly turned
toward God. It is as much our job, as teachers, to turn hearts
toward God, as it is to teach that which must be done “from
the heart” (Acts 8:37 Rom. 6:17).
An
emotional “turn” toward God may be purely subjective, or
even a hypocritical effort to avoid obedience; but we can’t
know this until fruit is produced. Try building on the heart,
instead of trying to turn it off. It may be this fellow has the
first important ingredient for “godliness.”
[Previous
Article] [Next
Article]
|
