11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,
The life of obedience is one of saying “No” and “Yes” at the same time. We say “No” to evil and “Yes” to good. Life is about choices. And the Believer’s life has a dividing line, a boundary spelled out in Scripture. That boundary is for our safety, security and eternity. We all have boundaries. We all have lines that we say we won’t cross. But unless we allow God’s grace to work in us, we will often end up standing on the wrong side of those lines, the side we said we would never cross. But if we will listen to the grace, we will move further and further away from those lines, staying on the obedient side of the line. Our lives will exhibit self-control, uprightness and godliness. We will be different than our culture. And not just different for different sake. We will be different for God’s sake and we will reap the benefits from that difference. When we say “No”, we are in a new position in which we can say “Yes” to God. We can’t say “Yes” to God without saying “No” to the world. When I was a kid I had to say “No” to leaving the table before eating my vegetables before I was allowed to say “Yes” to my dessert. If I left the table, I got no dessert. I wanted the reward, so I had to exercise self-control. In what areas of your life are you saying “No” to what you selfishly want in order to gain something much better for the Lord?
The Arnold Journey 