Do you think our thoughts tell us something about our sins? I think that if our thinking is not right then our obedience to God can never be right.
How can a person come into the presence of God and not recognize their own sins? When we have an encounter with God, we are so humbled, ashamed, embarrassed, disgraced, and mortified. At least this is what happened to me. I spent years thinking God would never accept me, because of the life I had lived. Then I read 1 Peter 1:13-16,
We cannot be Holy unless we have the presence of God. Holiness comes when obedience is our first nature. Personal holiness is a result of what God has produced in us, not what we have attained that makes us holy. It is who we obey that makes us holy. Living in holiness is obedience. I believe that people who refuse to obey have a rebellious spirit or heart.
If we think of Israel in the wilderness, it wasn’t that they had forgotten what God did in Egypt, or that He parted the Red Sea for them, it was because they chose not to live by faith, holiness and obedience anymore. I think they wanted a new kind of life independent of God. And independence from God and His church body causes holy failure. The Israelites as well as many people today want their way along with God’s provisions, the problem is that they can’t co-exist.
When we prepare our minds for action, be self-controlled, and set our hope fully on the grace of God, we will see the holiness of God developed in our lives. Holiness is the characteristic of a person who is after God’s own heart and can be described as God’s recognized presence. Jesus alone is the source of our holiness. When we recognize God’s presence, we realize that we are not like Him, we are holy because of Him.
If we want to obey Jesus, we must first recognize His presence in our lives. When we do, we will want to be holy as He is Holy.
Our self or flesh wants to do things its own way but still receive all the blessings from God. But, God does not bless sin, He blesses holiness. To live a life of holiness we have to submit our lives to the ways of God then we can have everything we need for a life of godliness.
2 Peter 1:3 tells us, “Seeing that His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and virtue.”
From Pity to Praise 