I fear that many people are fooling themselves. They may have the surface appearance of Christianity, the “form of godliness” as Paul put it (2 Timothy 3:5) but “they have denied its power.” The Bible points out many of these inconsistencies and the seriousness of the problem. There are some things you just can’t do and be right with God. We ignore them to our peril. Here are just a few:

1. You can’t trust your own performance. In Galatians 5:4 Paul clearly indicts some Christians when he writes, “You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace” (Galatians 5:4). That verse has often and rightly been used to correct the false doctrine of “once saved always saved”. Ironically though it primarily convicts many sticklers for the letter of the law who put more trust in their own performance of getting everything just right than they do Jesus’ finished work on the cross. Anyone who puts his trust in getting to heaven on the bootstrap method is lost, plain and simple. A living faith works (James 2:14-17). But that living faith is squarely and completely in Christ and what he has done, not what we do for ourselves. Paul wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose” (Galatians 2:20-21).

2. You can’t live like the world. The Bible says, “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (1 John 1:6). God’s very nature requires that those who are in fellowship with Him be and behave righteously (1 John 3:7). Even the most faithful of Christians sin from time to time. But there is a difference in sin that is sorrowfully repented of and sin that becomes a pattern. When we’re walking with the world we’re not walking with the Father. The Bible says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17).

3. You can’t dishonor your wife. The Bible says, “Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered” (1 Peter 3:7). That verse ought to be a wake up call to brutish little despots who rule their kingdom with an iron fist. God indeed put the husband as head of the wife. But that headship is to be manifested in the same way that Christ is the head of the church (Ephesians 5:22-31), which he is by loving, serving, leading and sacrificing.

None of us will ever be flawless this side of heaven. There will always be the better we’re striving for and growing pains as we get there. But let us be especially wary against traits that God’s Word makes clear are blatantly out of step with God.

God bless you,

Brad Fry