I do not see true godliness as my outward behavior. If this were the case, Miss Manners would be very godly. But she may be an atheist for all I know. Good manners do not fix the problem of my ego/self-love. They merely conceal it.
True godliness is inward and then the outward just follows. But an atheist can be very polite outwardly while plotting how to murder you inwardly.
I am aware that you probably think there is something not quite right in what I am saying, but Jesus did not speak harshly to men because their inside was good and their outside just wasn't matching up.
If a man is good in his heart, inwardly, his outward behavior will simply be good too. But it seems to me like you are saying that after he meets God and receives the Holy Spirit, his inside is good but for some reason his outward behavior has not followed suit. This seems to say, he then has an outward problem that does not allow his inward holiness to be seen.
I guess on this thing, we actually are oceans apart. Jesus didn't chide men to make their outside look godly. He chided them for being liars and deceivers who wanted others to think they were godly BY their outside display, when inwardly, they were no such thing as they strove to portray. He wasn't having a problem with their sin - he knew it was there. He was having a problem with their lying. Their hypocrisy.
This is so crucial a matter because it is not walking in truth. If a man is never brought to see what is inside him he's never going to completely surrender himself to God. God doesn't begin by saying: we will clean your inside, in one fell swoop, and then we will work on your outside and get it to match up. Instead He says, walk in truthfulness and do not fear death because you will not pay the penalty for your sin, and I will take care of it all.
I don't know if that's coming out clearly. He doesn't want that men should deny what is in them as if it's not there. He wants them to see and admit that it's there and then He can do something about it. All we have to do is be truthful about it and look to Him to fix it.
It makes no sense to deny it's there inside. Not having to pay the penalty for it is meant to encourage truthfulness. It is not truthfulness for me to say it's not there inside me, in my heart. I plainly see that it is. It rises up and tries to get me to seek preeminence. Saying that I am holy in my heart would be a lie.
It's like this: a childs face is completely smeared in chocolate. It's even in their hair and eyebrows. Yet the child keeps insisting they did NOT eat the cookies. The parent tries to get the child to admit the truth but it is not going to happen because of fear of punishment. Then the parent tries a different tack and says, I want you to tell the truth. I promise you won't be punished. But you have to admit the truth. Then the child latches onto that promise to not be punished and then there is no reason to lie any more and so the child freely admits what they did.
The way you describe it seems backwards to me.
Good morning, by the way!
