How scary it is to imagine God wants us to be holy – God whose holiness has the angels singing “holy” for millennials expects me to be holy?
I remember being an undergraduate battling with addiction and telling God “Lord, it’s like you didn’t save me well. So, I will backslide and you will save me properly”. Because, how can I be connected to a holy God and not be holy in deeds?
There are a few things you must know.
- Nakedness is next to godliness
Years ago we were worshipping and singing “I give myself away so you can use me” and I heard the Lord ask me “why do you hold back your pain and shame”. It was at that moment I realized purity felt elusive because I was trying to do it by myself.
Didn’t the bible say “but we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags…”? It means we will never be holy enough by our efforts. When we can allow God to see all of us, holiness will manifest in every part of us that was previously hidden.
- It is the Lord that keeps your faith
Jude 1: 24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy
Psalm 127: 1 Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
The problem is whether you can be holy or not because that is already your inheritance. You were hand chosen by God to be. It is merely a problem of control – You want to steer yourself into holiness in a world where we are socially conditioned to the exact opposite.
Gal 5: 16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
As I sat in my room my bible on one side of the bed, my phone in my hand scrolling a porn site and tears in my eyes, I dared to pick up my bible and Galatians 5: 16 opened up. There was my deliverance – I didn’t need to exhaust myself fixing the flesh. I had a couple of relapses but I knew precisely how to get back home to holiness – walk in the spirit.
- You have been empowered to live above sin
I am sure you have read the story of the new testament adulterous woman that people wanted to stone. If you are like me, you have made a case for her about the law of Moses saying they should stone both parties so why did they bring only the woman to Jesus and strip her of her identity such that the only way we were introduced to her is by her act of adultery?
Isn’t it interesting that we are like these Jews – we will forget everything God said about us and define ourselves by that one act of unholiness? Well, here is a twist you might have missed. John 8: 10-11
10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
- Jesus knew she was wrong
- He will not condemn the rest of her life on the basis of her past (even if it was just 5 minutes ago)
- He elevated her – go, and sin no more.
For a long time as a new believer, I thought this was some command anyone will give. On a second look, it was grace; He was releasing the grace to sin no more.
If she was a kleptomaniac, saying “go, and sin no more” won’t make her stop taking things that are not hers. It was not another instruction, it was the power to go and sin no more! It was the power to exhibit self-control. It was grace to enter a community courageously and ask for help. Jesus gave her the grace, courage and power to go and sin no more!
- You are already loved
Our anchor verse says “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,“
Your holiness and blamelessness exist in love, not for love or to love. You are not trying to be holy so God can love you. You are not journeying towards love by travelling the road called holiness. Rather, you are already loved as a son and holiness is in your DNA.
Even if you fell, God will still love you because why you were yet a sinner, He gave his best for you.
Activity
| Areas I want to live in holiness |
Declare with me
- Holiness is natural to me.
- I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
- Sin has no hold on me.
- My heart follows the Lord.
- I walk in the spirit always.
- My walk with God yields fruits of righteousness.
- I am led by the Spirit of God per time.