Some believe that obedience and good works are necessary to make us more godly. But they have the cart before the horse. We are obedient and do good works BECAUSE we are godly, not in order to be more godly.

The truth is that we are like crystal-clear window panes that are still more or less dirty from the filth of the world. We are perfect by nature, created especially for the purpose of allowing the Sun to shine through us, but something outside of us still blocks the Light. There is nothing that anyone can do to me, or that I can do to myself, that will improve upon my ability to let Jesus shine; God has created me super-transparent, crystal clear, and unblemished. I am without blot or shadow, without stain or darkness. But I still have a dirty film that pretty much blocks out my new nature and belies my new creation.

Each time we allow Christ to line up our thoughts and actions with his own, a little more dirt is wiped off the window, and a little more Light shines through. It is not that obedience and good works make us more godly; they simply reveal the godliness that is already ours by virtue of the new birth. ... See More

As transparent window panes, we are NOT being made more and more transparent with each good deed, we are as transparent as we will ever be. But our natural transparency is hidden beneath the layer of dirt that we carry over from our old lives. As more dirt is removed, more over who I REALLY am comes to light. As more sin is removed, more Jesus shines through!

So let's apply the water of the Word by faith. Let us that ARE clean allow ourselves to be made clean, that Christ may shine more and more each day.