Be Ye Holy
“But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy”…..”For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy”…..”Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:” I Peter 1:15-16; Leviticus 11:44; Hebrews 12:14
In the previous blog, we wrote about following after peace, and how that it can sometimes be a challenge, but well worth our efforts to promote and maintain peace with all those with whom we come in contact. However, we are to follow not only peace, but holiness, the standard of living which reflects our relationship with our Father in heaven. Holiness for believers does not mean sinlessness. It is impossible for men and women to live a sinless life in this world, no matter how hard they try to do what’s right. Jesus Christ was the only one who walked this earth yet remained sinless and pure. We cannot be perfect as long as we are in these earthly bodies with the sin nature which we acquired at our physical birth, but we can strive for excellence through our spiritual nature given to us when we are born again. It is the battle between our sin nature and our spiritual nature which makes us stronger. No pain, no gain, as they say. The goal for the believer is the growth of our spiritual nature and the diminishment of our sin nature as we walk with Christ.
We are not saved by our striving to live holy. We strive to live holy lives because we have been saved. We are to emulate Christ, our Lord and Savior, and disengage from former sinful practices and patterns. It is logical to understand that we must strive to be like the One we follow. Our zealous endeavors to be holy are also necessary to see the Lord for who He is, our Lord and Savior. The lost will see Him, but only as the Judge who will hand down an eternal sentence of damnation. We will see Him as our Father, our Brother, and the One who made it possible for us to live forever with Him in paradise. Again, returning to simple logic, how can those who claim to believe in Christ yet live “like the devil” show to others the difference that Christ made in their lives? If He truly abides within one’s heart, the evidence of His presence cannot be secretly contained. I am reminded of the story of the little boy whose Sunday School teacher told him that when a person receives Christ, He comes to live within that person. Since children are very literal, the little boy asked, “But won’t He stick out?” Exactly.
When an individual repents of sin and places faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within that person’s soul. The born again individual is given a new life and a strong desire to live righteously, but being human, he or she can and will continue to sin, but will be made aware of that sin by the promptings of the Holy Spirit. The person who sins willfully without conviction is lacking the presence of the Holy Spirit and thus has no true relationship with his or her Creator. One who lives an unholy life, living only for himself or herself, has not the promise of eternal life nor will dwell with Christ in eternity. As you can see, there is a lot riding on one’s relationship with Christ or lack thereof. No matter how hard unrepentant sinners try to live righteously, it is an exercise in futility. Even those of us who are born again cannot be righteous on our own. The Apostle Paul wrote in II Corinthians 5:21 that Christ, who was sinless, took on our sin and in exchange gave us His righteousness. Thus no matter how “good” we think we are, the only righteousness that we have is that of Christ who lives in us. With that being said, the righteousness that believers have from Christ doesn’t remove our need to strive for holiness.
None of us are exempt from trouble, trials, and persecutions. At times, living the Christian life is like walking a tightrope. One slip can lead to disastrous results. However, as long as we depend on the Lord for balance and to keep us steady, we will not fall to an unrecoverable state nor fail in our determination to stay on the straight and narrow. Not only do we need to keep our eyes on Jesus, we must also watch out for our brothers and sisters in Christ. They, too, are walking the tightrope of righteousness, and some, the weaker brothers and sisters, have not the same determination in seeking holiness. They perhaps allow trials or temptations to influence them to waiver in their walk. Persecution and/or criticism may bring on a bitter spirit within them. They may become critical themselves, complaining and thus losing focus on their purpose to promote the gospel of Christ. It could happen that their bitterness would spread and infect others, like the “one bad apple that spoils the whole barrel”. Joy is infectious, but so is bitterness. Most folks would rather be around others who are full of joy and optimism rather than others who are cranky and complaining all the time.
Those who love the Lord, who have diligently tried to be obedient, and to live a Christlike life will likely not have any regrets when the day comes that signals their earthly sojourn is over, and they go home to meet their Lord and Savior and hear Him say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”