Live as an Exile

A follower of Jesus Christ is a person in exile. 

I know that it doesn't feel that way. 

We were born in this world. 

We are comfortable with the culture that we live in. 

This world is familiar. 

It feels like home. 

We may sing songs about this world not being our home or talk about how God has mansions waiting for us in heaven, but the reality is that we like it here.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing. 

God created a good world, and that means there are many things that are part of this world that are enjoyable. We should find joy in this life.

Yet, one of the themes that runs through the Bible is that God's people are to be a holy people, a set apart people. Over and over again God's people choose to be another "Canaanite people" rather than God's covenant people.

 

We have this tension of living in a world that God intended for us to enjoy while seeking to live differently from the world around us.

To do this properly we need a shift in our thinking.

Traditionally we ask the question: "How close to the line can I go?"

More often than not we are interested in how we can push God's boundaries so we can live comfortably in the world.

We need to make a shift to turn away from the world and move in the direction of Jesus.

You and I are created in the image of God. This means we are to demonstrate His character in this world. We do that best when we follow the example of Jesus. 

Jesus lived as foreigner in this world:

I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. (John 17:14, NLT)

In his prayer to the Father, Jesus confessed that the world hated him and his followers because they did not belong to it. Jesus' teachings and his way of life were foreign to the the way of the world.

Foreigners stands out because they are different.  

They speak a different language. 

They dress differently.

They celebrate different holidays.

They have different values.  

Christians are to live like foreigners in a strange land.  Our goal isn't to learn the language and the customs of this world, but to adopt the customs of the Kingdom of Heaven. 

The apostle Peter wrote:

Dear friends, I warn you as "temporary residents and foreigners" to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world. (1 Peter 2:11-12; NLT)

How does the apostle Peter want us to live?  As "temporary residents" and "foreigners"! We are displaced.  We are not at home!

I want you to catch this: when we live like the world we are not part of God's Kingdom!  

God isn’t interested in people who will merely confess Him and believe in Him.  The Bible teaches us that everyone will bow a knee confess Jesus as Lord. What God wants is a people who will live by faith, people who will bow before Him now.  

People who will be motivated by a different set of desires.  

People who live by a different set of standards.  

People who love people no one else will love.  

People who will not abandon the customs of their home country, but will teach those customs to others.  

By living differently we proclaim to the world that there is a better way to live!

In his book The Barbarian Way, Erwin McManus wrote:

From the moment we become citizens of the kingdom of God, we become aliens and strangers in a world that chooses to live absent of God.  From the first step taken to follow Jesus, we are out of step with the rest of the world.  Once your life is in sync with the story of God, you become out of sync with any story that attempts to ignore or eliminate God.  You are a stranger to them, an alien among them, a nomadic wanderer who, while refusing to be rooted in this life, seems to somehow enjoy this life most. (p. 93)

Are you walking out of step with the world?  

My great concern for American Christians is that we are not.  

I know that many of us have a different moral standard than the world, but our hopes and dreams are the same dreams the world around us has.  Our dreams and desires center around success, money, happiness, and love.  The list could go on, but the point is that while we are morally different from the world we are not spiritually different from them.  

That my friends was one of the problems Jesus had with the Pharisees.  They looked good on the outside, but on the inside they were filled with dead men’s bones.  White washed tombs.  

We need to quit fooling ourselves that to be different from the world is just about having a different moral standard.  Being different from the world is primarily about our desires, dreams, attitudes, and thoughts. It is about the direction of our lives and what we are willing to sacrifice to accomplish.

A temporary resident doesn’t put down roots in the land he is living.  Instead he hopes and dreams for his home and thinks of the day when he will finally join his family there.  

How can we think about settling for the things of this world when God is offering us so much more?

How can we think about being like the citizens of the world when God is calling us to be citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven?  

Since this world is not our home let us live like citizens of Heaven.

Reflecting on a Scandal

I originally posted this to my Facebook page, but thought it was worthy posting here:

This past week the board of directors of RZIM posted this letter concerning the double life of Ravi Zacharias. You can find the letter here Open Letter from the International Board of Directors of RZIM on the Investigation of Ravi Zacharias.

Ravi Zacharias had a ministry that influenced many people. The news that has been confirmed recently of his moral failure is disheartening, especially if he and his arguments helped strengthen your faith. 

In the light of this  I want to remind us of a few truths. First, truth is not dependent on the life of the messenger. When Ravi spoke truth about God, about the condition of the world, and about Jesus all that continues to be true. His grievous sin does not invalidate the truth he taught.

Second, the way that we live totally impacts the message that we have. Unfortunately, the revelation of Ravi’s double life is going to undo all his years of public life. This is why Jesus taught his disciples to be salt and light. Both of those metaphors deal with living in such a way that we are able to influence the world around us. Our lives provide evidence that our message is true. When we don’t live up to the message it will cause people to doubt our message.

Third, we have a choice to make when it comes to sin. It is probably true, as the letter indicates, that more accountably would have prevented some of this from happening, but accountability is overrated when it comes to transforming our lives. Accountability might help us manage the sin, but it falls short of creating holiness in our lives. When we have sin we need to confess it and seek ways to get rid of it. The Holy Spirit is able to transform our lives, but we need to give Him room to work.

The greatest tragedy here is not the moral failure of Ravi but the women he abused and their reputations that were ruined in order protect Ravi’s reputation. This is what should truly break our hearts.

Devotional: Prepare to be Holy

The transformation God desires for our lives is for us to be made holy.  Holiness is the result of God's miracle and our choices.  What are the choices that we need to make in order to experience holiness? That is the question this devotional from Paul's Ponderings seeks to answer.

{1 Peter 1:13-16; ESV} 

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy. 

Becoming the person God created us to be isn’t easy nor does it happen overnight. This transformation is the result of God’s grace, which is primarily seen in the Holy Spirit working in our lives. We experience the Holy Spirit’s power in our daily surrender to God and His will.

There is this mysterious mix of God’s power and our choices which come together to transform our lives. While we are powerless to change by our own effort, there are certain choices which God demands from us that make transformation possible.

The transformation of our lives results in holiness. God expects us to be holy.

What does it mean for us to be holy? To be holy means that we are separated from the ordinary. Just as God is separate from His creation and is free from sin, we are to be separate from this world and be purified from our sinful behavior.

Continue reading Prepare to be Holy » Paul's Ponderings.

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Holiness is True Life

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Daily Thought: Look at Jesus in the Scriptures

They who would live a perfect life must set the life of Christ before them as portrayed by the Holy Scriptures. You can not see much of this perfect life by a passing glance. It is he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues to look that will see the perfect life which it pictures. The artist must look long at the landscape and get it imaged upon his soul before he can produce it upon the canvas. The Bible description of the life of Christ must fill your soul with admiration and with a strong desire to possess it. Your heart must lay hold upon it until that life is focused and printed upon your own soul. It is like the art of photographing. The object must be set before the heart.

Orr, Charles Ebert (2004-11-01). How to Live a Holy Life (pp. 6-7). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

Daily Thought: The Side of Victory

No, the believer who knows what Christ is as the Risen One, approaches death, the crucifixion of self and the flesh and the world, from the resurrection side, the place of victory, in the power of the Living Christ. When we were baptized into Christ, we were baptized into His death and resurrection as ours; and Christ Himself, the Risen Living Lord, leads us triumphantly into the experience of the power of His death.

Murray, Andrew (2009-10-04). Holy in Christ: Thoughts on the Calling of God's Children to be Holy as He is Holy (p. 119). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

Daily Thought: From the Resurrection Side

Our holiness is, like His, in the death to our own will, and to all our own life. But—this we must seek to grasp—we do not approach death from the side from which Christ met it, as an enemy to be conquered, as a suffering to be borne, before the new life can be entered on. No, the believer who knows what Christ is as the Risen One, approaches death, the crucifixion of self and the flesh and the world, from the resurrection side, the place of victory, in the power of the Living Christ. When we were baptized into Christ, we were baptized into His death and resurrection as ours; and Christ Himself, the Risen Living Lord, leads us triumphantly into the experience of the power of His death. And so, to the believer who truly lives by faith, and seeks not in his own strugglings to crucify and mortify the flesh, but knows the living Lord, the deep resurrection joy never for a moment forsakes Him, but is his strength for what may appear to others to be only painful sacrifice and cross-bearing.

Murray, Andrew (2009-10-04). Holy in Christ: Thoughts on the Calling of God's Children to be Holy as He is Holy (Kindle Locations 2350-2358). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

Prayer: Find Liberty in Holiness

Most glorious God! I ask You to open my eyes to this wonderful liberty with which Christ has made me free. May I enter fully into Your word, that sin shall have no dominion over me because I am not under the law but under grace. May I know my liberty which I have in Christ Jesus, and stand fast in it.

Father! Your service is perfect liberty: reveal this too to me. You are the infinitely Free, and Your will knows no limits but what its own has placed. And You invite us into Your will, that we may be free as You are free. O my God! show me the beauty of Your will, as it frees me from self and from sin, and let it be my only blessedness. Let the service of righteousness so be a joy and a strength to me, having its fruit in sanctification, leading me into Your Holiness.

Blessed Lord Jesus! my Deliverer and my Liberty, I belong to You. I give myself to Your will, to know no will but Yours. Master! You and You alone would I serve. I have my liberty in You! be my Keeper. I cannot stand for one moment out of You. In You I can stand fast: in You I put my trust.

Most Holy God! as Your free, obedient, loving child, You will make me holy. Amen.

(Adapted from Andrew Murray's prayer found in Holy in Christ at the end of the chapter 20 Holiness and Liberty.)

Daily Thought: The Holiness We Need

In the holiness of Jesus we see what ours must be: righteousness, that hates sin and gives everything to have it destroyed; love, that seeks the sinner and gives everything to have him saved. ‘Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.’

Andrew Murray, Holy in Christ, Olive Tree Bible Software Edition

Daily Thought: The Power of Separation

We need, above all, to know the power of separation, the power that leads us into it in the spirit of desire and of joy, of liberty and of love. The great separating word in human language is the word Mine. In this we have the great spring of effort and of happiness: in the child with its toys, in labour with its gains and rewards, in the patriot who dies for his country, it is this Mine that lays its hand on what it sets apart from all else. It is the great word that love uses. Be it the child that says to its mother, My own mamma, and calls forth the response, My own child; the bridegroom who draws the daughter from her beloved home and parents to become his; or the Holy God who speaks: ‘I have separated you from the people, that ye should be Mine;’ it is always with that Mine that love exerts its mighty power, and draws from all else to itself. God Himself knows no mightier argument, can put forth no more powerful attraction than this, ‘that ye should be Mine.’ And the power of separation will come to us, and work in us, just as we yield ourselves to study and realize that holy purpose, to listen to and appropriate that wondrous Mine, to be apprehended and possessed of that Almighty Love.

Murray, Andrew (2009-10-04). Holy in Christ: Thoughts on the Calling of God's Children to be Holy as He is Holy (Kindle Locations 1131-1140). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

Daily Thought: God Will Give Us Holiness

Learn to cease from your own wisdom as well as your own goodness; draw near in poverty of spirit to let the Holy One show you how utterly above human knowledge or human power is the holiness He demands; to the soul that ceases from self, and has no confidence in the flesh, He will show and give the holiness He calls us to.

Murray, Andrew (2009-10-04). Holy in Christ: Thoughts on the Calling of God's Children to be Holy as He is Holy (Kindle Locations 252-254). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

Daily Thought: One Standard of Holiness

There is not one standard of Holiness for God and another for man. The nature of light is the same, whether we see it in the sun or in a candle: the nature of Holiness remains unchanged, whether it be God or man in whom it dwells. The Lord Jesus could say nothing less than, ‘Be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.’ When God calls us to Holiness, He calls us to Himself and His own life: the more carefully we listen to the voice, and let it sink into our hearts, the more will all human standards fall away, and only the words be heard, Holy, as I am holy.

Murray, Andrew (2009-10-04). Holy in Christ Thoughts on the Calling of God's Children to be Holy as He is Holy (Kindle Locations 129-133). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

Daily Thought: Exercise for Godliness

"The grace of godliness in the Christian character is capable of cultivation and increase. There is a law in both the material and spiritual that exercise is conducive to growth. The Spirit-filled apostle said, 'Exercise thyself unto godliness.' In the Emphatic this reads, 'Train thyself for piety.' Here is something for every soul that has any aspiration to be more godly in life. Train yourself for piety. To become of deeper piety and more godly is the joy of the Christian heart. By training we become more pious. The lawn-tender forms an espalier by intertwining the branches of the vine. He keeps intertwining them as they grow, and by such training forms a latticework made of shrubbery. The soul intertwined with the meek and lowly life of Jesus will form a character of deep piety and sincere godliness. The daily life should be intertwined with the life of Jesus. Let there be no reaching out for anything outside of him. For a proper development of the Christian graces there must be a constant training or intertwining of the soul with God. This linking more tightly is the result of growth, and growth is produced by exercise, and exercise consists in reading the Scriptures, in prayer, and in deep thought or heart-communion with God. The athlete takes such exercises and eats such foods as will most properly develop and strengthen his muscles."

Orr, Charles Ebert (2004-11-01). How to Live a Holy Life (p. 40). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

Daily Thought: Explaining Away Holiness

"We talk  about leading a different kind of life, but we also have ready explanations for not being really different.  And with those explanations we have talked our way out of the very practices that alone would enable us to be citizens of another world." ~  Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, p.108

What is Holiness?

I am starting a four week this Sunday entitled The Utter Relief of  Holiness (the title is borrowed from John Eldredge). One of the first  tasks I had to do in putting together this series was to define what  holiness is. I think holiness is one of the good church words that we  use regularly, but are unsure of what it actually is. We might have a  faint idea, but if we are asked to define it we realize that we don't  really have a firm grasp what holiness really is.  That was the  problem I ran into as I pondered what I wanted to communicate.

I turned to the dictionaries for help (two English dictionaries and  two Bible dictionaries), but I found them to be of little value. Since  I was still struggling to define holiness I turned to my older brother  to see if he could help clarify my thoughts. Tom gave me the  definition of holiness that he has used and something clicked. The  definition that he uses is set apart from the ordinary. When I put  that definition on top of text I had decided to use, 1 Peter 1:13-25, the accuracy  of that definition was clearly seen.

So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 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."

And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no  favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as "foreigners in the land." For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but he has now revealed him to you in these last days.

Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.

You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.

For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. As the Scriptures say,

"People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades.  But the word of the Lord remains forever."

 And that word is the Good News that was preached to you (NLT).

Did you notice how the things of God are contrasted with the things of this world? God’s people are to live as obedient children rather than living to satisfy our own desires.  Christians are to life as foreigners rather than to accept the traditions of the people of this world.  We are ransomed, not by silver and gold, but the precious blood of Christ Jesus.  To be holy is to be separated from the ordinary things of the world.

As God's holy people we are set apart from the ordinary way of living in this world.  We are set apart, not by ordinary things like silver and gold, but by the precious blood of Jesus.

Holiness comes down to being set apart, and we don't set ourselves apart from the world, but we are set apart by God. Therefore we don't become holy by our own effort, but we absolutely surrender to God and allow Him to use us for His purposes.

I Am Powerless

One of the hardest truths to accept as we follow Jesus is how utterly dependent we are upon God.  It is one thing to know and teach this truth, but it is another to truly live it.  My experience has been one that trusted God to save me from the consequences of sin, but sought to rely on my power to escape the power of sin that had a hold of my life.  That is why what the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 7:24 resonated with me so deeply; Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? (NLT).

As I read the chapter O Wretched Man that I Am! in Andrew Murray’s book Absolute Surrender a great truth began to take root in my heart.  Murray writes:


The new will is a permanent gift, and attribute of the new nature.  The power to do is not a permanent gift, but must be each moment received from the Holy Spirit.  It is the man who is conscious of his own impotence as a believer who will learn that by the Holy Spirit he can live a holy life (p. 122; Humility and Absolute Surrender).

While it is true that there is a Divine side and a human side of transformation, the reality is that even what God has left for us to do requires His power.  I can’t crucify my flesh on my own, I can’t love my enemies on my own, and I can’t be holy like God is holy on my own; I need God’s help.

One of the thoughts I had as I pondered Murray’s words was what we lost at the Fall.  You see, Adam and Eve couldn’t live out their design apart from their relationship to God.  They needed that relationship in order to truly be human.  I think we sometimes get the idea that we can get along fine by our own effort, and we only need God’s power when we really get into a jam.  Over and over again we try to change our lives by our own power and to try to work up the love, courage, and strength we need to do the work God has placed before us, and over and over again we fail.  We keep telling ourselves that if we only had more desire or a better plan, then we could accomplish what God wants from our lives, but we never seem to able to muster up what we need.  That is why we are miserable people, because we have new hearts that desire what is right, but our flesh is unable to to do it.

Even in an unfallen state you and I need God’s strength, power, and Spirit to assist us in doing what is right.  That is why the apostle Paul wrote:

Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him (Philippians 2:12-13; NLT).

Paul tells the Philippians that they are to work so that the fruit of salvation could be seen in their lives and that they were to obey God in what He asked them to do.  Yet, what does Paul say in verse 13?  It was God  is working in them that made all that possible.  They would not be able to live lives that pleased God without the reality of God working in their lives.

That brings us back to the Andrew Murray quote.  We can’t change our desires, that is something only God can do, and so the promise of Scripture is that God will give His people new hearts and in the process begin to change our desires.  Yet, the next part is something that we must do, and that is to respond to those new desires by doing what is right.  Too often, at least for me, we have thought this meant that we had to crucify our flesh, that we had to stop doing evil and start doing good, and we always ended up failing.  Which then caused us to feel guilty and unhappy, in other words we began to be miserable.  There has been a time in my life I was so miserable that I was ready to hang Christianity up, not because I thought it was false, but because I thought it was impossible.

It is impossible, but what is impossible for you and me is possible with God.  That is why when it comes to acting out our new nature and living out our new desires the first step isn’t action, but it is surrender.  It is offering our bodies as living sacrifices, which means that we get up on the cross, but we allow the Holy Spirit to pound the nails.  You and I need start each day asking God to fill us with His Spirit and to help us to be loving and courageous, because we cannot live holy lives otherwise. 

I guess what I am trying to say today is this: We cannot live holy lives [lives that love God and love people] until we daily surrender our lives to Him.  That means we have to let go of all of our pride and self-love and humbly give our lives to God.  This is not easy, but I bet that the more we do it the more will begin to look like Jesus, and that will help us to become the people God created us to be.

Sunday Quote: The Highway of Holiness

“But my heart cry is to say it is crucial that we hold ourselves accountable to a life of holiness—that if we walk righteously, there will come a response from God. Our lives will be a highway over which God shall come” ~ Henry Blackaby, Holiness, p. 90

Sunday Quote: Holiness and Revival

"I believe there will be no revival without holiness in the leadership. None. Cry unto God all you want. He will not hear you. Pull together all the phrases that revivalists of other generations have all quoted, and it will not make an ounce of difference to the heart of God. God is looking of holiness!" ~ Henry Blackaby, Holiness, p. 72

Called to Influence

{Matthew 5:13-16; ESV}

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven”

Jesus, by using the metaphors of salt and light, called His followers to influence the world. We influence the world and impact the culture not by exercising political power, but through the way we live our lives. I would suggest to you that the reason the Church has lost her influence in the United States of America is because the people of God have not lived as the people of God. Instead we have lived life on the fence, taking what we liked from Christianity and what we liked from the world, and merging the two together. The result is that we have a sickly faith that influences no one.

Jesus warned us what would happen if we were not committed to being agents of influence in this world. Salt, Jesus said, that has lost its flavor is good for nothing. Therefore a church that is compromised with the world is good for nothing. In Revelation 3 Jesus tells the church family at Laodicea, a church that lost her ability to influence people, that He is going to spit them out of His mouth because they are lukewarm and good for nothing.

Likewise,we don't light a light and then cover it up, but we put the light in a place where it can shine for everyone to see. Too many American Christians don’t want to stand out, and so we hide, do our best to blend in with the culture around us. We watch the same TV shows and movies, listen to the same music, pursue the same goals, and have the same amount of debt. No wonder the Church has lost her influence in the world! We, who claim to follow Christ Jesus, are no different from the rest of the world.

If we are going to influence the world it isn’t going to happen because we get more involved in the politics of this world (We have tried that for the last thirty years, and what has it gotten us?), or by seeking to be more relevant by telling people what they want to hear. It is going to happen when the people of God finally live like the people of God, and in the process show a dying world living in darkness that there is a better way to live.


I want you to consider something Henry Blackaby wrote:

“But my heart cry is to say it is crucial that we hold ourselves accountable to a life of holiness—that if we walk righteously, there will come a response from God. Our lives will be a highway over which God shall come” (Holiness, p. 90)

The reality that the Church has lost her influence in our culture leaves me to conclude that we, the people of God, have not lived lives of holiness. In other words we have not been the salt of the earth or the light of the world.

If we are going to be agents of influence in this world, salt of the earth and light of the world, then it will begin by changing the way we live our lives. We need to limit our TV watching, to get out of debt, to intentionally serve people, to reorder our priorities. Remember: We can’t influence the world if we live just like the world. What our country needs are people who set themselves apart from the world and follow Jesus. By following Jesus and being guided by the Spirit we become agents of change in this world. That is the life that Jesus has called us to live.

Be Holy!

{1 Peter 1:13-16; ESV}

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy.

Becoming the person God created us to be isn’t easy nor does it happen overnight. It is the result of God’s grace and Spirit working in our lives as we continue to surrender our lives to Him. There is this mysterious mix of God’s power and our choices which come together to transform our lives. While we are powerless to be changed by our own effort, there are certain choices that God demands that we make.

One of those choices that we must make is found in 1 Peter 1:13-16. God calls us to be holy, just as He is holy. What does it mean that we are to be holy? To be holy means we that just as God is morally pure, upright, and sinless were are strive to live our lives in the same way. Yes, I realize that it is impossible for us to live holy lives, but holiness must be our goal, the direction to which we orient our lives.

I think too many of us ask ourselves the question: What can I get away with and still be considered a Christian? We view holiness as a line, and as long as we stay on right side of the line we will be fine, and so we spend our lives tight rope walking an imaginary line all the while wondering why we aren’t growing in our faith. The reason is because holiness is not a line, but it is a direction that we walk. If we are truly dedicated to holiness we will not wonder about what we can get away with, rather we will follow Jesus to the life God has prepared for us to live. Holiness is a characteristic of true life.

How do we follow Jesus in the direction of holiness? Peter provides us with four actions that help us on the journey of holiness. It is interesting to note that three of the four actions have to deal with our minds. This should remind us that holiness isn’t just about what we do, but that it begins with our thoughts and attitudes. Our character is the product of what we spend our time thinking about.

The first action that we are to do is to prepare our minds for action. Remember the call of God is not just to salvation, but also to service. This service, as Peter will point out in 1 Peter 2:9, includes being God’s priests. We are called to point other people to God, to pray on their behalf, and to serve them in the name of God. In order to do this correctly requires that we prepare our minds for the task before us. I would like to suggest two ways we can prepare our minds. The first way is to take the focus off ourselves and to place it on Jesus. The writer of Hebrews tells us to focus on Jesus as we run the race of faith (Hebrews 12:2), and so we have to keep in mind who Jesus is, what He taught, and what He did for us. This brings me to the second way we prepare our minds and that is by putting God’s Word into our lives. Too many of us have our minds filled with music, movies, and television shows that ultimately dishonor God. We need to fill our minds with what is good, pure, and truthful so we can be prepared for what lies ahead.

The second action Peter mentions is that we are to be sober-minded. This means that we need to choose to be clear headed. Not only do we have to be abstain from drunkenness, which clouds the mind, but we have to keep a proper perspective on things. Often we allow our emotions to cloud our thinking, and we make poor choices because of it. Being sober-minded requires us not only to keep from being drunk or high, but it also requires us to have a proper foundation for making decisions. That means that we allow God’s Word to guide and direct us rather than our constantly changing emotions. God’s Word will consistently point us in the right direction, while our emotions will have has being tossed back and forth by the wind of our desires.

The third action is that we are to set our hope on the grace of God. Our hope isn’t found in our goodness or knowledge, but in God’s wonderful and amazing grace. This is so very important because we can’t measure up to God’s standard of holiness. We can’t be holy as He is holy without help. That help is found in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the ultimate expression of God’s grace. We are only holy because of Jesus, and if we are going to become holy we have to follow Him. Thank God holiness doesn’t depend on us, because I would have given up a long time ago! My hope isn’t on my efforts, but in God’s grace.

The fourth and last action that Peter gives us as we strive for holiness is obedience. Part of obedience is staying away from evil. We are not to conform to the ways of the world, rather we are to be different. Part of not conforming is to have a different standard for living and for judging right and wrong. What is to be our standard? Our standard is to be God’s Word. I will guarantee that you will be conformed to standard of the world if you do not make an effort of know and obey God’s Word. Obedience is more than not conforming, it is also about completing the tasks given to us. If we are obedient children then we will love God and love people, we will serve our neighbors, we will worship God, and we will make disciples. In other words we will seek ways to give our lives away in service to God.

The reason most of us don’t live holy lives is because we are concerned with how close we can get to the line of sin without crossing, and in the end we stunt our spiritual growth. In the end we prevent ourselves from living the lives God created us to live. We are called to be holy, just as God is holy, and that requires moving away from the line and following Jesus as He leads us to true and everlasting life.

• Point to Ponder: Holiness is not a line, but a direction.
• Questions to Consider: Are your thoughts moving you toward holiness or toward sin? Is holiness a goal in your life? Why has God called us to be holy? What is a step you can take today that will move you towards holiness?
• Prayer to Pray: Holy God, thank You for being merciful and gracious. I haven’t been holy and I haven’t desired holiness in my life. Forgive me from being ungrateful of Your gift of life, and help me to prepare my mind for action, to remain sober-minded, to keep my hope on Your grace, and to be an obedient child. Guide me along the path of holiness….