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     In the past six months we considered the changes a Christian must make within himself in order to be an honorable citizen of Jesus kingdom.  Sixteen of these are commonly called sins of commission, such as lying, stealing, murder, fornication - things which are actively done.  We also considered the nine qualities of growing into Christlikeness, collectively called the fruit of the Spirit.  Failing to strive to have the attitude to grow in these character traits would be disobeying God’s commands, thus would also be sinful.  The question each Citizen of Jesus kingdom must ask is, “Am I seriously submitting myself to Jesus, the king in the development of these character qualities?”   If not why not?

     In this self examination, there is always one pitfall which many if not most will falter.  It is the almost bottomless pit of human behavior to deny reality — self deception.  In the last days of Judah (7th century BC), the prophet Jeremiah spoke and wrote that man is cursed who trusts in man.  In contrast he stated blessed is the man who trusts in God.  Concluding these admonitions, he admonished, “the heart is deceitful above all things and is desperately wicked; Who can know it?  I, the Lord search the heart, I test the mind…” (Jeremiah 17:5-10).  A clear example of this are the interviews with inmates in prison, who declare, “Really, I am a good person…” and in that somehow denying the crime for which they are being punished.  In the same way all of us lie to ourselves.  It is easy to deceive ourselves into thinking all is OK between God and me, without knowing the reality.  The only way a citizen can know if he is growing in the qualities of the fruit of the Spirit is to study God’s word.  Failing to do that a person can not know if they are growing into Christlikeness.

     Jesus gave us a glimpse of judgment day and a person who believed he was saved, but wasn’t.  “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.  Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).  That citizen had been endowed with spiritual gifts by God.  His argument was he had the spiritual gifts and had used them in the work of the kingdom.  However, he had not done God’s will.  Obviously, he had deceived himself throughout his life.  Each of us can do the same in either ignorance or refusal to accept God’s design for the citizen of Jesus kingdom.

     The only way one can know what to do to be pleasing to God is to diligently study His word.  In his last years, the apostle John wrote, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:13).

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