The Cost of Discipleship - The Discipline of How We Should Then Live - (Part 6) - "A Holy Life"

(Mary Jones) “But as the One Who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all your conduct and manner of living. For it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (I Peter 1: 15-16; Leviticus11:45;) The words, “holy/holiness,” to some conjure up pictures of women in long dresses with long sleeves and her hair in a bun, and men with a highly buttoned coat, always carrying a black Bible, ever ready to figuratively hit anyone over the head who disagreed with his version of that black Book. To others “holy” is a picture of God the Father seated on a magnificent throne with a crown on His head and wearing a long white robe. He appears very aloof and looking down on mankind with a condemning eye and a scepter in His hand to readily judge anyone who steps out of His line. Neither picture is correct, although parts may be true according to the Word of God, a little truth among many untruths can cause a much distorted picture. The whole Truth is that the word “holy” means in the Hebrew, where it was first used, as “someone, or something that had been dedicated for sacred use: an angel, a saint, a day, and/or a sanctuary.” To be holy is to be “set apart,” “separate,” - we are holy to the Lord (Duet.14:21). In the New Testament the Greek defines being holy or holiness as, “an awful (full of awe) thing; it is being set apart to God (sacred), blameless, pure from defilement, moral and consecrated to God.” II Cor.6:16-18 ask the question, “What agreement can there be between a temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God; even as God said, ‘I will dwell in and among them and will walk in and with and among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. So come out from among them and separate yourselves from them,’ says the Lord, ‘and touch not any unclean thing; then I will receive you kindly and treat you with favor’. ‘And I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty (Isa.43:6; Hos.1:10).” So how do we live holy lives? To be holy unto God we are to fully dedicate ourselves to God and however He wants to use us. We are to keep ourselves clean and pure from the world’s defilements (its way of thinking and acting). We are to be chaste and modest in our thoughts, actions, speech, how we dress, the places we go, and the activities in which we participate. As well as our text (I Pet.1:15-16), James 1:21 makes it clear and reiterates, “So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble (gentle and modest) spirit receive and welcome the Word which implanted and rooted in your hearts contains the power to save your souls. So obey the message of the Word and not merely listening to it, betraying yourselves into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth.” To help us live holy lives we must always keep heaven in view. Think of the hope of the redeemed: 1) To be caught up with the Lord in the air; 2) The Lord will descend with a loud cry of summons, and the shout of an archangel and blast of the trumpet of God; 3) and those who have departed this life in Christ will rise first; 4) then we, the living ones who remain on the earth, shall simultaneously be caught up along with the resurrected dead in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; 5) we will be changed in the twinkling of an eye, to have our bodies transformed to be like His glory; 6) death is swallowed up in victory; 7) He will wipe away all our tears and reproach; 8)and so always through the eternity of the eternities we shall be with the Lord. This hope should inspire us to live holy lives and to be like Jesus. Thinking of all the eternal glories - the peace, the joys, and spending eternity with Jesus should inspire us to steadfastly and faithfully live holy lives. Peace of mind and heart is one of the fruits of living a holy life. Isaiah 26:3-4 tells us that we will have perfect peace if our minds are kept on Him, because we have committed ourselves to Him, and lean on Him, and hope confidently in Him. To keep our minds on Him we must shift our focus from the problems, hurts and allurements of this life, to our Father, Savior, Helper, Provider, our Prince of Peace and His Word. Focus on His precious Promises. Hide them in your heart, trust in them and pray them back to the Father – He doesn’t have to be reminded but it strengthens our faith to remind ourselves of His promises that never fail. He tells us in Philippians 4:6-9 to not be anxious for anything, but by prayer, with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God; change your thought life to think on the pure, true, honorable, lovable, kind, gracious and winsome things; things that have virtue and excellence and is worthy of our praise. Then God’s peace will be ours. This is holy living because our thoughts will become actions, our actions will become habits, and our habits with become our character. To have a holy character we must take every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ (II Cor.10:5); and keep our minds kept on God and His Promises – all through prayer. This is holy living. To live a holy life we must strive to please Him. We please Him by obeying Him, trusting Him, walking in faith and love, to do justly, loving mercy and walking humbly before Him and worshipping Him with clean hands and a pure heart. (Prov.9:10; 3:5-6; Heb.11:6; Mt.22:37-39; Micah 6:8; Col.3:12-17; Ps.24:3-4). We can live holy lives only through His strength (Phil.4:13). As Christ made us holy (sanctified us (set us apart) and purified us)in salvation and He will give us all we need to be holy as we strive in all our conduct and manner of living to be holy. Anything that has been cleansed and made special by God is beautiful. Holiness is beautiful and we should worship God in that beauty (I Chr.16:29), so we should set aside as special, not ordinary, our worship time and our worship place (whenever and wherever that may be). We should come into that holy time and place with respect and honor to God, the One we have come to worship, whether we come individually or corporately (Ps.93:5; 96:9). Do we come together into that “sanctuary” with an attitude of worship and of focusing on the Almighty God and our Savior, Who has saved us and daily keeps us? Or do we come in a frivolous and worldly minded attitude more intent on visiting with friends rather than honoring and worshipping Him, the only One who is Holy and is worthy to be worshipped? He will not share His honor with anyone. Oh, may HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD, be our watchword and song!