SAVED BUT UNGODLY ~ PRECIOUS VICTOR AKAH

A lot of people are surprised when they come in contact with professing born again Christians who comfortably commit sin, especially when a supposed born again Christian brother, for instance, is asking for sex before marriage, because the society believes that when a person says they're born again, it means they do not sin anymore nor get involved in anything immoral. So when they now see opposite of that in a brother or sister professing to be born again, they are shocked to the marrow.

Well, this blog post explains why such happens. First of all, even though the majority of Christians confessing to have been born again are not truly born again, some Christians are genuinely born again; the issue they have is that they are yet to become godly.

Being born again is automatic. It is an automatic experience that happens in a second; it's instant in occurrence. To be born again you just simply have to genuinely repent of your sins and confess Jesus as your Lord and Savior and put your faith in Him, and boom, you are born again.

You are immediately translated from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of Light. Your sins are forgiven and you're made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. You're no longer spiritually identified as a sinner, but a righteous man or woman - a saint.

However, after being born again, one must deliberately and intentionally do the required personal work by the power of the Holy Spirit and with His help to be godly and live godly. You must labor to be godly and strive to live godly. This does not happen instantly. It is a process. The moment you're born again, your sin nature which you inherited from Adam that makes you sin even when you don't want to sin, is removed and replaced with the righteous nature of God, which makes you desire good and gives you the power to do what is righteous and godly henceforth.

You also receive the Holy Spirit upon being born again. Now, you must work with the Holy Spirit, you must partner with Him, you must submit and yield yourself to Him to be transformed from the inside, that is, have your mindset and beliefs renewed with the Word of God and your behaviour, values, morals and principles changed by God's Word. It is by so doing that you start being godly and living godly.

But sadly, a lot of born again Christians, after being born again, do not allow the Holy Spirit to make them godly and do not submit to the Word of God to be changed and transformed by it. They continue to live like they used to live and refuse to renew their mind with the Word of God. This is the category of born again Christians who constantly bring disgrace, mockery, and shame to the Body of Christ and soil the name of the Church. Because sinners (those who are not born again) look at them, listen to their confessions of faith in Jesus and love for God, yet they see them living, acting, talking and behaving just like them.

In 2 Timothy 3:5, one of the traits we are told will be seen in many people in the last days, even among professing born again Christians is "They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly." This prophecy is what we're seeing being fulfilled now. A brother says he is born again and carries the Bible up and down, yet he sees nothing wrong with sexual immorality and goes ahead to ask the woman he is courting for sex before marriage. A sister says she is born again and ministers "powerfully" in church, yet outside the church building she wears clothes that leaves men sexually aroused or provokes them to lust and commit sexual immoral acts when they behold her. Another sister says she is born again and wears beret, long sleeve shirt and long skirts, yet she goes to spend the weekend in her fiancé's house and they both fornicate or commit sexual immoral acts short of intercourse; some even decide to move in with their fiancé. Hmmm!

What does it mean to be godly? Firstly, to be godly is not to be religious; rather, it is to emulate Jesus in order to be like Him and live like He lived by the power and enablement of the Holy Spirit. It is to do only what brings God glory, praise and honor. It is to have and show reverence and respect for God by living according to the teachings of the Bible and keeping the commandments of God. To be godly therefore, you must work the work after being born again. You must deliberately seek to emulate Jesus and live honorably like He did, obeying the Father just as Jesus obeyed the Father while on earth. 

"And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory." (Colossians 3:4). Christ is now your life - that is why you must seek to be like Him. You do this by constantly studying the Bible to live according to its teachings, praying regularly, fasting often, and listening and obeying the voice of the Holy Spirit living in you.

Receive grace to be godly and live godly, in Jesus' Name. If you're not yet born again but desire to be godly and live godly, you must first become born again by repenting of your sins and putting your faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God. Do that right now and the power to be godly and live godly will be supplied to you by the Holy Spirit who will live in you henceforth.

SOFT REMINDER: "When you eat or drink or do anything else, always do it to honor God." 1 Corinthians 10:31 

Shalom.

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