To Be or Not to Be

So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

1^st Peter 1:14-16 NLT

Other than Christ, I don’t know one person alive today who has never sinned. And I think that’s one of satan’s most effective weapons in discouraging and attempting to defeat us. See? You can’t even go one day without sinning… You call yourself a Christian and you did that?  

Has anyone other than me ever heard anything like that in your head?

So how can we be holy? What does it mean to be holy? For Christians, it’s about being consecrated in our service to God and being conformed to His will in all aspects of life. How can we be holy like Jesus when He never once sinned? Oh, yeah, He was tempted in all the same ways – Hebrews 4:15 tells us, This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.   Romans 6:19b&c tells us how we become holy; Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.

But how do we know it is working? Well, personal holiness is a work in progress - verse 21, And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom.  I don’t know any followers of Christ who are thrilled with what they did when they were sinners. Verse 22 reads, But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.

It’s a matter of walking it out and our Christian walk is continually under attack. Sometimes, we grab on to the latest-greatest motivational speaker or system in an effort to make us feel good about ourselves. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with motivation, but I would offer a word of caution about espousing man-made ideas and ideals as our standard for living and building our self-esteem. They always seem to want to offer the easy way to it or out of it, which is directly opposed to Scripture.

God’s Word is full of instruction to watch and pray, persevere, endure. 2nd Timothy 4:3-5 NKJV reads, For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

God made The Way out of sin and into His holiness – Ephesians 1:4, Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eye. He’s done all the hard parts. Our hardest part is to choose His way over ours. So which is it to be?  

Prayer:

Father,

           We can do this easy or we can do this hard. Help us to follow Your design for holiness. Give us courage and endurance and guide us into Your wisdom and Truth of being holy as You are holy. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen

* Motivated

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
Hebrews 10:24-25 NLT

A friend posted a phone video that she recorded in her church. It featured four generations of one family - the Ridenours - singing acapella praise of thanksgiving to God. I have watched that video dozens of times. You see, I know them. And I know they not only meant every word they were singing, but they have also lived and are still living it.

As I watched that video over and over, and saw the youngest generation - now young men - I thought about their boyhood and how their father was determined to raise Godly sons. I remember him telling me about reading "Raising a Modern-Day Knight" by Robert Lewis and how motivated he was to instill biblical principles in his boys. (I love to see it coming to fruition!!)

You see, 2004 through 2008, I served with two generations and worshiped with three generations of that family. Sweet people. Salt of the earth. Totally sold out to God. The kind of people who would think of ways to motivate one another and those around them to acts of love and good works. Just a joy to be around and the love remains. That's how God is. Amazing...

Think of the people in your life who motivate you to acts of love and good works. Thank God for them. They are just one more evidence of His unfailing love for us.

Prayer:

Father,
           Thank You for the people You lovingly place in our lives in this journey toward You. Let us be motivated to acts of love and good works and help us to motivate others to do the same. Prod us to remember to make the time to get together and to encourage each other, especially now that the day of Your return is one day closer. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen