day no. 16,322: you cannot grow godliness by using godless manure

Galatians 3:2-3

Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

You cannot be so good as to graduate from the material to the spiritual. You cannot receive the Spirit of God as a paycheck. No one has ever gotten so good at being good that they spontaneously combusted into spiritual flame. No one ever baptized himself with fire. You cannot receive a gift as a wage. If you earned it, it's not a gift. The giver is merely being honest, not generous, in paying what they owe. 

So, if salvation was received as a mere gift, how could it be kept by sheer grit? That is dumb. If you began by saying, "I can't do it on my own," how can you keep going on by saying, "I just know that I can do it!" You cannot continue by pride what began in humility. You cannot build up by merit what was laid down in grace.

1 Corinthians 3:10-11

Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

You cannot be Christlike without Christ as a reference point. You cannot be unChristlike in the name of Christ. You cannot live in unbelief because you are a believer. There are no worldly wisdom classes once admitted and enrolled in the college of Christian wisdom. You cannot grow in godliness by using godless manure.