How can I please God with my losses, my heartbreaks, and my mistakes?

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Today's Precious Prodigal's Post is at = http://bit.ly/1wmaMUp

Title: How can I please God with my losses, my heartbreaks, and my mistakes?

Hashtags: #godliness #Itsaninsidejob

Precious Prodigal's Current Meme is at = http://bit.ly/1BvIoAT

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2 Peter 1:5-6 “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith…godliness.”

We’ve been looking at things we need to add to our faith. So on that foundation, we started building by adding “virtue.” That simply means doing the right thing...not always easy to do when our lives are in turmoil. But while it’s true that “the thought is father to the deed,” it’s also true that if we “take the body, the mind will follow.”

To virtue we added an open mind and a willingness to learn. I’ve heard that, “when the student is willing, the teacher will appear.” My guess is the people we could learn from are already there. The problem is our willingness to hear what they have to say. Admitting we haven’t arrived yet, being open to learning and willing to apply the things we learn to our lives is how we add knowledge.

To knowledge, we’ve added self-control…or at least the beginnings of it. C.S. Lewis says that how we feel about people and how we treat them are closely connected. If we dislike someone, we tend to treat them badly…even if only in small ways or as a reaction to what they say or do. And treating them badly causes us to dislike them more. On the other hand, if we exercise self-control and treat them kindly, the better we treat them, the more we’ll like them.

Just as one bad choice leads to another, so also do good choices…the ones that develop character. At some point the “snowball effect” kicks in so that adding these things one at a time leads to godliness. How? When we really grasp God’s love for us and have experienced His going before us and with us in every situation, how could we not seek godliness?

When that terrible diagnosis comes, someone we love has broken our heart or our dreams are in ashes at our feet, it isn’t easy to remember that God loves us and will work that situation out for His glory and our good. But that assurance is the anchor that will keep us steady in our storm-tossed lives. Faith is more than believing God will answer our prayers the way we want. Faith is trusting God when He doesn’t.

True godliness is an inside job. It won’t happen instantly; instead, it’s a growing devotion to God that results in a life that is pleasing to Him. It’s about having a heart that earnestly desires to please God. It’s remembering that, regardless of our circumstances, regardless of our prodigals, regardless of anything, He is worthy.

Godliness is the result of doing the things that came before and learning more about the God we serve. The more we know Him, the more we’ll love Him. And the more we love Him, the more we’ll want our lives to be pleasing to Him.

It isn’t about what we do or how hard we “work” for God. God doesn’t want our hands or our feet…or even our lives. He wants our hearts. True godliness is about honoring Him from a heart of love in spite of our circumstances, our pain, or our mistakes. You see, “godliness” has never been about doing. It was and is about being.

Challenge for Today: What might happen if we, just for today, focused on being the person God would have us to be?