Man: "LOOK! I can't be good!"
God: "You can't be good? I made you good! BE good."
I Peter 1:16 presents us with one of the most simplistic commands, yet it seems to be the most misunderstood. "Be ye holy; for I AM holy." Be - not an option. Not a request.
I once knew a woman who would ask an impossible question. She would look at you and say, "Who do you think you are?" If you quietly waited on her to go on, she would say, "This is not a staring contest." If you replied, no matter how softly, you would probably receive a smack to your face. No right answer. Walking away from this "conversation" you thought, "I just can't be good."
God is a loving, heavenly Father. A father who loves you so much, he created you in his own image: The image of a perfect, infallible father. God, unlike so many of our biological parents, never presents us with an impossible situation. He never poses a question where an answer cannot be found, because the answer is always Himself.
I have been frustrated over and over at the thought that I just cannot seem to find victory. The world, and even people I loved have told me over and over just how stupid and incapable of good I am. To this, God responds with the statement "I made you good. BE good!" "Be ye holy; for I AM holy." What causes us to fail? Our own free will. What enables us to find victory? Our own free will. Holiness, just like sin is our choice.
I'm not presenting you with a prosperity gospel. I cannot say that if you "name it you can claim it." I AM telling you that when you reach that point of discouragement, where in desperation you exclaim, "I JUST CAN'T BE GOOD" God says, I MADE YOU GOOD! I am carefully and wonderfully made. I can be good. It is as simple as that. HE IS so I can BE. Who have you decided to be?
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