Striving for Holiness

Over the past few days God has been revealing to me a common theme during my bible study time…holiness.

Holiness is quite an unpopular topic in today’s society, even unpopular among some Christian groups, but what does God’s Word (you know the ultimate and final authority for living the Christian life?) have to say about how a Christian is supposed to live?

In looking deeper about the importance of holiness to God, the term holy is mentioned in the Bible over 60 times from the Old Testament to the New Testament, Leviticus 20:7 “Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God” - Psalm 93:5 “Your testimonies are very sure; Holiness adorns Your house, O Lord forever. “ 1 Thessalonians 4:7-8 “For God did not call us to uncleanness, but to holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man but God who has also given us His Holy Spirit.” 1 Peter 1:15-19 “as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written Be holy, for I am holy. And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

In many Christian groups, a call to holiness may be seen as legalism; however, the holiness that God is calling us to is not a mandate to abide by certain rules and regulations or an expectation that we are supposed to be perfect but rather the call to holiness stems from a desire to become more like Him each day. In essence that is what the very nature of being a Christian is, to become more like Jesus…and what is Jesus?...He is love but He is also Just and Holy; therefore, He commands us to live a life of holiness. Putting off our former selves is a result of a miraculous intervention of the Holy Spirit working in a Christian’s life through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, which results in a person becoming a new creation, receiving that heart change, and receiving those new desires…desires that please the Lord and line up with His word.

In today’s culture it’s so easy to be influenced by the world, just turn on the television...so how is a Christian supposed to live a holy lifestyle in such a corrupt world?

If you’re having trouble letting go of what Peter says, the corruptible things of the world such as gold or silver…or in our culture, money, fame, materialism, ect.…I encourage you to cut out some of those distractions and influences that are keeping you from studying God’s Word, make sure you are in a Bible-truth teaching-grounded upon sound Biblical doctrine-disciple making-church.

Therefore, striving for holiness is not a method to earn salvation…or about being good enough to get into heaven - “For it is by grace you have been saved, not by works lest any man should boast” Ephesians 2:8 - but rather a desire to be holy out of love for Him for saving us, to be like Jesus, the One who gave His life for us…because we have sinned - violated His law – the Ten Commandments, thus He can have no part of sin, but came apart of His creation and laid down His life – paying the fine for us on the cross - so that through repentance (turning away from sin for once and for all) and through placing trust in Him, we can be set free from His wrath and judgment to come…for His Word says, “it is appointed once for man to die, then judgment” Hebrews 9:27.

SO...what does Holiness look like today? Holiness is not an act of being distanced from the world but rather different from it. God’ s divine call for believers is to shine their light in the dark world, whether that be in the work place, school, in the mission field, or at the grocery store – “Ye are the light of the world” Matthew 5:14. God calls us to be salt and light to the world, sharing the Good News, and being an example wherever He leads us.

Putting holiness into practice means living your life in a way that reaches others with the gospel in the world... you know things like abstaining from idolatry, covetousness, impure thoughts, gossip, love of material things, not watching the things on television that unbelievers watch, staying away from ungodly movies, not listening to the music the world listens to, ect. If we are doing these things, how are we any different?

I encourage you to examine yourselves along with me; let’s examine our lifestyle, and the things we love…are they holy?...are they worthy of the calling of Christ?...are we allowing Him to mold us more into His image of holiness each day?