Holy? Why Should I Be?

Eric Metaxas has written a very good piece titled, "We Might as Well Be Holy" that I am linking for all to read. In a nutshell he reveals the obvious: Christians will not win over the world or others to Christ by acquiescing to it; it does not work. So we (Christians) are left with one conclusion, "We might as well be Holy" like God has asked us to be, (see 1 Pet. 1:15-16). Of course the position one will take in response to the article will be determined by whether they care enough for the Word of God, whether they truly value their relationship to Jesus, and the amount of concern they place on lost souls. Not meeting any one of those prerequisites on the level that Christ desires makes the point of "Being Holy" a moot one. If that is the case one could be characterized as falling into the category of being rendered useless for God's work: "They will appear to have a godly life, but they will not let its power change them." The Bible goes on to say, "Stay away from such people." (see 2 Timothy 3:5 GW)

Read on:

Breakpoint with Eric Metaxas

After you read the article take a hard look at your own life. Then ask yourself these questions:

Do I really understand the Holy Character of God?
Does God really require me to live the holy (sanctified) life?
Is it OK for me to be entertained by watching things that make Jesus weep? Things He died for?
Am I playing a role in the spread of the cultures god-less agenda by what I keep quiet about?
What does fearing God mean to me?
Do I trust God to transform my character bringing it into conformity with Christ? (Rom. 12:1-2)

The following words were written to Israel but were repeated by the Lord Jesus as being the first and foremost commandment (see Matt. 22:37):

⁴ "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! ⁵ You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. ⁶ "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. ⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. ⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NKJV)

America has lost this sense of awe and holiness toward God. For the most part we have lost our vision of who He is and where there is no revelation the people cast off restraint (from holy living). If this fits your life realize God is still waiting for you to come to Him and have an honest talk. But you need to be honest with Him; that's all He asks. He knows all things already and nothing is hidden from His sight. Understand this one thing, Jesus is never unapproachable to the person that desires to hear from Him. We know this because He became like us to show us He is approachable, "Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted" (Hebrews 2:17-18).

The promise here is simple, Jesus perfectly satisfied the requirement necessary to make the throne of God approachable through His death, burial, and resurrection. Because He was born sinless; because he desired to please the Father in all things, He was able to pay the price for the sin debt we owe to God all by Himself. He redeemed those who would have faith in Him. This redemption from sin opens the door for us to approach God and ask Him to give us direction in living our lives in service to Him.

I another place He says, "Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear" (Isaiah 59:1-2). God is very much approachable but sin exerts an effort on the conscious mind that keeps us from approaching Him because we like the sin. We need to be of this mind; we need to approach God in our sin and ask Him to forgive us and open the way for us to become the New Creation in Christ He saved us to be. We need to ask Him to deal with the sin that keeps us from approaching Him. Christians should never fear God in the sense of being afraid to speak to Him and ask for guidance. The Scripture exhorts:

For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. ... But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:18-20, 22-24)

God asks us to be holy like Him because we are responsible to Him just as we are for the souls of the generation in which we live. He placed us here to take the gospel into all the world; that includes your spouse, your children, your neighbors, your city, your county, your state, your nation and your world. Only a person who has a true desire to live by faith in Christ and serve Him with wholehearted obedience; one that desires to be pleasing to God will take this matter of being holy serious. The rest are cast-offs that have a form of godliness but no desire to be like Jesus.

It is my prayer for all of us in this desperate hour of need that all Christians stand to be counted for Jesus regardless of the consequence. Trust Him. Remember the banner of the call of God: He saved you to serve Him not to serve yourself.

God Bless

25 Reasons to Believe - In Jesus FREE EBOOK

FREE EBOOK click to download - When book comes up click down arrow on Upper Right to save a copy . A while back the Barna Group released a report titled, "Six Reasons Young Christians Leave Church." 1 Under reason two, " Teens’ and twenty-somethings’ experience of Christianity is shallow" they write: "A second reason that young people depart church as young adults is that something is lacking in their experience of church. One-third said “church is boring” (31%). One-quarter of these young adults said that “faith is not relevant to my career or interests” (24%) or that “the Bible is not taught clearly or often enough” (23%). Sadly, one-fifth of these young adults who attended a church as a teenager said that “God seems missing from my experience of church” (20%)." If one takes a look at the modern church-scape I can see why. The gap between those pastors and teachers that are fired up about Jesus and those that do not preach all of th

Fornication - The Acceptable Sin?

In the Bible there are several sexual sins that are categorized under the term,"Sexual Immorality." Not the least of these is, "Fornication." However fornication has become an outdated, and in many places, the acceptable sin in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. As a matter of fact, many do not even know what the term "fornication" means. Since the advent of the modern Bible translation, many have never heard of it. This article focuses on what the Scripture says about this out-of-control acceptable sin. Fornication is mentioned thirty-six times in the Bible (MT), thirty-two times in the New Testament. In almost all modern translations the word has been substituted with, "sexual immorality" and has come to mean any number of sexual sins. However, sin (missing the mark) is still sin and sin still separates a person from God. So why has this sin become so acceptable even in modern churches???? UPDATE : Here is a testimony of life

The Bride of Christ Has Made Herself Ready!!

The Bible teaches of an upcoming Wedding Day that the Church should be on cloud nine over!! Rev. 19:7-9 states: Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come , and His wife has made herself ready." And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!' " And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God." The passage above speaks of two distinct events, the Marriage of the Lamb and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Both of these events are reminiscent of the ancient Jewish wedding ceremony where the Bride would become betrothed to her Groom and he would go away to build her a home. In the meantime she would wait anxiously for his return with shouts from his wedding party of "The Bridegroom Comes!" When the shouts were he

Understanding Grace…without it no one can be saved!

Years ago as a pastor, I faced an issue concerning the topic of “Grace.” I had noticed some congregants who were taking Grace to the extreme and beginning to teach that since our sins were bought and paid for at the cross—all of them, past, present, and future—there was no need to strive against sin. Thanks to our Lord, this was noticed and the He quickly allowed it to be curbed. This heresy occasionally rears its head in Christian circles and indeed must be stopped before it becomes out-of-control. The good thing is that a proper understanding of Grace can arrest the heresy in its steps. Because this false perception thrives in loose living, many well-meaning Christians go completely to the opposite extreme and throw the Biblical teaching of “Grace” out altogether. That too is heresy. How should we approach it? Grace, as a doctrine, should always be presented in its entirety. By that I mean, a starting definition, followed by why it is important, and concluding with keeping it scri

Guest post: Hind's Feet

Adrian Bateman, 2016 The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like hind’s feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills. — Habakkuk 3:19 For most human beings the primary goal of life, after survival, is the pursuit of happiness. Indeed it’s one of an American’s “unalienable rights”. But what is happiness? The definition of happy is surely situationally derived. For the hungry it would be having enough food; for the homeless, a home. For the average person it might be having more time, more leisure, more friends, more comforts, more things. Ultimately, happiness involves the removal of obstacles and the correction of problems so that we might live a life without struggle. Or, at least, without what we view as onerous or unnecessary struggle. But this is not God’s definition of happiness. No. True peace—biblical peace, that deep inner peace which we cannot explain—is found only in the presence of God. When we are continually aware of the Pr

Truth Inspires

Search This Blog