Haven’t there been some great teachings on moral excellence this month? If you haven’t had chance, go back and listen online or read the blogs from this month, you will be encouraged.
Choosing to have moral excellence is laying down my own agendas every day to my own moral standards and partaking in the divine nature we have been discussing about all year. 2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. If I’m being honest, it can be hard, sometimes I let my standard of living be influenced by the world and not by the living scriptures. Sometimes there are even consequences to me choosing the worlds standards of living instead of God’s.
My husband and I lived the first five years of our marriage being swayed towards the world’s standard for how a husband and wife should live together. Well, with the influence of the world came consequences. Two of them being that we were constantly bickering at each other, and we were not happy to be around each other. Around year 5 of marriage something changed though. We started church at Harvest and started to become partakers of His divine nature.
In the Bible story of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham pleaded with God to save his nephew Lot. The people from Sodom and Gomorrah were not living in moral excellence, but Lot was righteous, and God agreed to save him and his family (Genesis 18). At the end of chapter 19 when Lot and his family were trying to get out before the city was destroyed; something happens.
Genesis: 19:17 As soon as the angels had brought them out, one of them spoke. He said, “Run for your lives! Don’t look back! Don’t stop anywhere in the valley! Run to the mountains! If you don’t, you will be swept away!”
The Angel of the Lord tells them not to look back or they will be swept away. In verse 25 & 26 you see a consequence of Lot’s wife not obeying what God commands of them.
25 The Lord destroyed these cities and the whole valley. All the people who were living in the cities were wiped out. So were the plants in the land. 26 But Lot’s wife looked back. When she did, she became a pillar made out of salt.
Lot’s wife chose to look back. It doesn’t say what she’s looking back to. Maybe her friends, her home, or maybe just curious, but whatever it was, she chooses to not obey God’s commands and she received a consequence for that.
So, when you choose to live a moral life, try not to look back at your past, choose to take up the divine nature of Jesus Christ because obeying His commands always come with blessing. Read His word, build a relationship with Him and choose to stay on that path.
And when you do look back, make a mistake, or fall back into that unmoral habit, because we do, repent for it. Repent simply means turning around and getting back in line with what Jesus wants for your life.
My husband and I can still go back to the place where we were in those early years, but we quickly repent. We want to get back on track with the moral standard God wants for our marriage because we have seen blessings and fruit from that choice. Choosing God’s standard in your morals is always the best course to take for living the life He has intended for you. It’s also the best path to take to receive the blessings he has for you.
We want to thank Bethany Williams for sharing this post.
Women's Ministry 