Why it is Impossible to Produce Fruits of Righteousness without God

Daily Devotional – Monday, September 20, 2021

Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.

Jeremiah 13:23 (NKJV)

Skin bleaching often goes wrong. There are people who end up with light-skinned faces, but from the neck downwards, they retain their dark complexions.

I also heard of a man who divorced his wife after he discovered she had bleached her skin before they got married. He claimed he had married the wrong person.

This futile attempt to alter that which God has made “fearfully and wonderfully” (Psalms 139:14, NKJV), will never work because man lacks that capability. God’s blueprint is too complex for man to fathom or change.

God asked a rhetorical question through Prophet Jeremiah, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.” (Jeremiah 13:23, NKJV).

The message is clear: you cannot change your sinful nature to become a righteous person. David puts this issue into perspective, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” (Psalms 51:5, NKJV).

We do not have to struggle to be sinners. That is why, partly, toddlers exhibit negative behaviour.

Only a force outside ourselves can begin the change process within us. Jesus described this process to Nicodemus. “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5, NKJV).

The only way you can produce fruits of righteousness is when the Spirit of God is active inside you.

Holy Spirit, come and fill me today because only through Your power can I live according to God’s will.