If God has given me a new nature and a new heart that is already righteous (Ephesians 4:24) – then my new nature is already pleasing to God. Now my flesh is not, but I am stuck with it until the day I die – and it is not going to be transformed. God is not in the business of transforming it, and neither should I. Romans 8:7 tells how the flesh cannot submit to God and it will not. The more I focus on living out of my new nature, the less the desires of the flesh will characterize my behavior.
So I have a new nature that is righteous and pleasing to God…so doing obedient things does not increase God’s love or His pleasure. What pleases God is when I trust that what He says about me is true…and I then live accordingly. It is my trust that pleases God! This is Hebrews 11:6, “And without faith (I like to insert “trust” here – it is the verb form of “faith”)…without trust it is impossible to please God.”
So why do I obey? What causes it to be a reality in my life? It is because I trust…it is the result of my trust. Here is the principle: Obedience is always the evidence of my trust. It is not my effort to please Him.
Next post: How does this change my time with God in the Scriptures? Saturday, October 23.
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