What is right for the glory of God

Written by Nana Kwame Owusu-Afriyie.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.” (NIV) Romans 12:1-2, Romans 6:13

Human nature dictates that we naturally gravitate towards the desires of the flesh. Human nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. The Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what human nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your personal intentions (Gal. 5:16–17). Is there a solution? Yes, let us commit to being slaves to the Spirit so that we can produce the works of righteousness (Gal. 5:18, 22–23). But is it that easy? Certainly not! As Christians, we can agree with Paul that we are constantly struggling with sin: “I do not understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it, instead, I do what I hate” (Rom. 7:16). The gap that exists between what we know to be right and yet refusing to do what is right is aggravated by sin.

Susanna Wesley was the mother of Charles Wesley, the hymnist and John Wesley, the preacher. One day, John went to the mother and asked for the definition of sin. The mother gave perhaps the most profound definition of sin; “if anything weakens your reasoning, impairs the tenets of your conscience, obscures your sense of god or takes away your relish for spiritual things. In short, if anything increases the authority and the power of the flesh over the spirit that to you becomes sin however good is it in itself.”

Sin is the bane of our existence! Slowly but surely it weakens our reasoning, impairs the tenets of our conscience, obscures our sense of God and eventually takes away our delight for what is spiritual. Like the proverbial frog, we would resist hot water when we first encounter it but when it is presented as lukewarm water, we stay in it, oblivious to the danger. Sooner than imaginable, we get boiled to the point of destruction. Is there hope? Yes, there is. More than ever we need a principle of jealous Godly fear within. A sensibility of sin and the pain to feel it is near. We must strive to choose to do what is right for the glory of God.

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