Philippians 2: 13-15
For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.
When God's Holy Spirit is living in our spirits, then He will do the work in our thinking processes and feelings to both want to do God's will and also give us the ability to do whatever it is.
Do everything without arguing or complaining, so that no one can criticize you.
Don't do anything with an attitude that someone else can find fault with.
Live clean, innocent lives as children of God,
We can live a clean life, even if we're not innocent; but we can be pure (I've heard the term, "secondary virginity"), modeling our Parent as His children.
shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.
Twisted and perverted people live in the darkness of this World, where God's light needs to shine. We are the bright lights He wants to use to expose all the wickedness in our midst, showing those who are caught up in this bondage the much better way of living, the way God has outlined for us in His Word. Only His ways will bring to us the freedom, peace and joy of the Lord He wants for all of us.
It is up to us to show them God's way of living, to draw them and lead them back to God. The more winsome we can be in our right living, the more attractive we show our Lord to be, in His great love for all of us.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
