“No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made Him known.” John 1:18

Arriving home from church and pulling into the driveway, I was was overcome with guilt because of lawnlessness! Walking into the house I shut the door with the final thought, “but it’s Sunday… a day to rest!” The excuse seemed to do the trick, until I saw the weather forecast calling for several days of rain. When the clouds started rolling in, conviction turned to motivation and got me up and out to cut my grass before the rain came. Before too long, I I was Willified!

Willie is pretty much the neighborhood lawn guy, and maintaining the yards on both sides of me. Over the years Willie has become my friend. I’ll often hear him outside on his mower, stop what I am doing and take him a cold drink so he can take a break and WE can talk about out mutual favorite subject… Jesus! Even though Willie is an expert in lawn care, he has NEVER criticized my lawn. He doesn’t have to. Being between 2 Willie maintained lawns is conviction enough! Which was WHY I was cutting my grass on Sunday! My yard was not even CLOSE to Willie standards!

I read that If God were to sit for a portrait, the painting on the canvas would be of Jesus. The Bible verse today tells me as much. Because of sin and failure, there was NO way I could measure up to God’s standards. So when I could not reach His level, He came down to MINE by sending His Son. Now, Jesus’ purpose and goal is to make me a perfect replica of Himself… to turn me into a Child of God, remade in His image.

Godliness (God-like-ness) is an inside job. It is not just an outward appearance. Liquid is defined as a substance that takes the shape of its container. But liquid can STILL be foul! God is interested in my heart condition as well as my outward appearance. I have to admit that, having Jesus Christ INSIDE me and other believers living AROUND me, there are times I become convicted of UNgodliness. Which is the FINAL step before my cooperation in allowing Jesus to work on ME.

The idea that I can KNOW God and that I can be transformed to LOOK like Him is not foreign. All religions make that claim. But there is ONLY ONE method where the process of Godlikeness can be completed. And it begins with the Person of Jesus Christ! And even Willie won’t find fault with that!   

Got Godliness?