Pursuing Holiness

 

By PBS Ministries

Holiness is a separation from worldly living to a life filled with Christ. It is a cleansing of one’s self from what is dishonorable to being made into the righteousness of God, ready and fit to be used by God. As holy people, we must spend time alone with God and we must put on the new self as we seek to be like God in true righteousness and wholeness.

We read in First John 3: 6-10 : “No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.”

Holiness is what God needs mostly from us. If we are truly in Christ, we are to put away our old sinful life. The Holy Spirit that abides in us will guide us into all truth and prevents us from sinning.  If we are truly living for Christ, we become a new creation, we are cleansed  from defiling the temple of God and we bring ourselves into complete alignment with God. What God’s word says do, we will do, we begin to walk in the light and we practice the truth. For the Bible instructs us that as children of God, there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality within us, for He did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.

 

Why must we seek to become holy?

We must seek to become holy because:

1.      God is holy

In the Book of Isaiah 57:15 we read, “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. God is light and in Him there is no darkness. For this is what the high and lofty One says – he who lives forever, whose name is holy.”

There is none besides our holy God. He is majestic in holiness, awesome in glory and He works great wonders. He is a God that does not change. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. We are reminded of God’s holiness in Leviticus 11: 44-45, “I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves about on the ground. I am the LORD who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.” 

 2.      We are children of a Holy God

If we are born of God, we should be overcomers of the world by faith and our bodies should be a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. As obedient children, we begin to conform to the ways of God, we begin to love your neighbor as we love ourselves, we walk by the Spirit, so as not to gratify the desires of the flesh, and we become blameless and innocent without blemish in a twisted generation.

Jesus came to destroy the work of the devil so that our corrupt lifestyle can be a thing of the past. We read in the Book of Ephesians Chapter 4, verses 21-27: “²¹ when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. ²² You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³ to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. ²⁵ Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. ²⁶ “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, ²⁷ and do not give the devil a foothold.

Just as our father is holy, so we are to be holy by constantly renewing our mind with the Word of God, by praying and fellowshipping. God honors us when we live a holy and righteous life. When we live as a redeemed people, sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you. The Bible tells us the Lord had rewarded David according to his righteousness and according to his cleanness in his sight. As men and women of God, let us pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness and gentleness, for we are children of a Holy God.

 

3.      Without holiness no one can see God

Apostle Paul tells us in First Corinthians 6: 9-11 : “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

The life of a wicked man ends in wrath. Psalm 1 declares that the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

It is not God’s will for any of us to perish. The Blood of Jesus Christ was shed at Calvary to make us clean and whole again. We do not have to die a sinner and go to eternal hell. Ask God to create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us.  Let us put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save our souls. God is calling us today. If you hear His voice do not harden your heart. Come and release yourself to Him, be Blood washed, and walk in the newness of life. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but be holy as our God is Holy. Amen.