WHAT DOES HOLINESS LOOK LIKE
Holiness. It keeps coming to my mind. I was reading in Hebrews and in Hebrews 12:14 it reads that without holiness no one will see the Lord. Oh man! ‘No one will see the Lord’? I want to see the Lord! I want to spend forever with Him! Man, I am but filthy rags and full of sin and so not worthy. In 1 Peter 1:16 the Word of God reminds us to be holy because I am holy. So how does one be holy? While the Word of God has all the answers to this question, there are a few that stand out to me.
Dying to Self.
Hebrews 12:1- Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
‘Throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles’.
‘And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us’.
Throw is a verb. Verb is an action, isn’t it? Who else can take action against my own self, but me. I have to do it. I have to use the action for it to be completed.
Run is a verb. Verb is an action. Who else can take action against my own self, but me. I have to do it. I have to use the action for it to be completed.
Throwing off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and running the race with perseverance takes discipline. Discipline is a result of a pattern of behavior from training. It’s control. Self-control.
It requires such an awareness of returning to where we came from by giving up and giving in and yielding to sin- temptation- and being of the world again. (Hebrews 11:15- “If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.”)
How do we have an awareness? Praying always. Reading/Studying the Word of God. Worship. How do we do these? Discipline. Perseverance. Hmm it’s kind of like a triangle. It’s all connected and all connected to the closeness and nearness of God. I can’t help but think the closer that I get to the Father, the things of this world grows faintly dim and pleasing the Father becomes my number one priority. Therefore, throwing off any and all sin is easier and easier because of being in the constant presence of the Father makes me want more of his presence! More of Him! Seeing Jesus face to face!
Being Disciplined.
‘And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us’.
I have to run. I have to use the action of running with perseverance.
The writer of Hebrews encourages us to persevere. A definition of persevere is to persist in or remain constant to a purpose, idea or task in the face of obstacles or discouragement. Hmm constant? That takes me back to being disciplined. You have to be constant to be disciplined. The writer of Hebrews also gave us a whole chapter (Chapter 11) devoted to men and women of great faith who persevered under difficult circumstances, trials, adversity, what at times seemed hopeless and faithlessness in their generation. They were commended for their great faith. A faith of being sure of what they hoped for and certain of what they did not see. Think about that for a minute. Noah didn’t know what rain was but knew he needed to build an ark. Abraham knew he needed to go to a Promised Land. He obeyed and went and didn’t even know where he was going. We aren’t told how long it took for Noah to build the ark but it wasn’t in a week or even a year or possibly one of our lifetimes! That’s a long time of being constant, isn’t it? That’s a long time of ‘keeping the faith’. That’s a long time to fight and push through ‘feelings’. That takes me back to how the writer describes our Christian life as a race. It’s a lifelong marathon, not a sprint.
This link between faith and endurance in Chapter 11 is the platform for the call to persevere we read about in Chapter 12.
Seeing Jesus face to face is the ultimate reason to run with perseverance the race marked out for us!! Back to the writers imagery of a race- when you run a race, you focus on reaching the finish line. Jesus is our finish line! He is our goal!
Persevere.
And finally, I think about Grace and Mercy.
Now if we lack wisdom in any of these areas, we are encouraged to ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to him. (James 1:5, emphasis mine)
Gentleness. Nudging of the Holy Spirit. Patient. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9 NIV).
He is such a good, good God. Without holiness, no man will see him. We have an advocate with the Father and His name is Jesus. He is our Mediator. He is our Redeemer. He is our Intercessor.
” but because Jesus lives forever he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest meets our need-one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.” Hebrews 7:24-27 NIV
Jesus. Because of Jesus I can go to Heaven and spend eternity with Him and the Father.
Gracious and Merciful.
So feed your focus today. Starve your distractions and win this race with holiness and pureness. You can do all things through Christ who gives you strength!
