YOU MUST BE HOLY

 

YOU MUST BE HOLY

I Peter 1:15-16 But now you must be holy in everything you do just as God--who chose you to be his children--is holy. For he himself has said, “You must be holy because I am holy.”   NLT

      If I had to narrow down into one issue that I believe is the most important issue in the Christian life, I believe the need to be holy before God would be it.  Most of the body of Christ seems to think that holiness is an option and not a necessity.  We are taught that all that really matters is our salvation.  Conforming into the image of Christ may be proclaimed, but it is not put into practice very well.  We acknowledge our sinful failures, but don’t seem to overcome them.  We admit that we are sinners saved by grace and yet seem to believe that it’s okay when we sin.  We struggle with sin and don’t gain true victory over it.

      Holiness in a grace-filled life used to be the heart of our preaching, but it seems to not be the case so much anymore.  We shy away from soul-wrenching messages that drive us to our knees in repentance.  We remove our altars from our churches and think it’s okay with God to do it.  We minimize our need for public prayer at the altar of God.  We have become comfortable in our righteousness and our appetite for more has been dulled to the point where we are barely recognized by the world as being a holy people.

      The mandate of Scripture is for us to be a holy people.  It is a sin on our part when we are not pursuing holiness in our lives.  We are made holy by living in a deeply connected relationship with Christ.  He must be our Lord as well as our Savior.  We must be willing to let Him rule and influence every part of our hearts.  Our minds must be captivated by Him.  Pursuing righteousness must be our passion. 

       The demise of the church is her lack of zeal for holy living.  Holiness flows from a heart fully surrendered to the Lord.  It flows from spending much quality time alone with the Lord in His Word and prayer.