Having answered the call of Jesus, “Come Unto Me”, By believing in him, repenting of our sins, confessing his name and being baptized into him, (Matt. 11:28, John 20:31, Lk. 13:3, Matt. 10:10, Mk. 16:16, Gal. 3:27) we became part of the chosen generation (1 Peter 2:9) and as part of that chosen people our lives must be lived in a manner that will be a song of praise to our Lord. “Sing the sweet story—redemption’s sweet song; Over and over the chorus prolong; Shout the glad message and join with the throng, Ever we’ll sing praise to the King, Singing redemption’s song” (T.S.T). The words of David from Psalms 34:1 should reside in our hearts: “I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth”. At all times, publicly, privately, when all is well, when adversity besets, when happy or sad, in success or in failure unceasing praise should be flowing from our hearts.
We
have a lively hope within us because Jesus Christ lived, died and was buried
but did not stay in that grave (1 Cor. 15:1-4). We have an inheritance that is
so marvelous it defies human description (1 Pet. 1:3-4, John 14:1-3, 1 Cor.
2:9). Now, in view of all of this, Paul tells us that we should be holy.
How do you define the word “holy”? I think of it in terms of having a
pure heart, being free from sinful affections because the heart is set on
things above, having a heart that is regulated by divine precepts that set us
apart to the service of God (Matt. 5:8, 2 Tim. 2:22, Matt. 6:19-21, Ps. 31:1,
Prov. 3:5, 2 Tim. 1:12) . Being holy we walk in the name of the Lord our God
each and every day of our lives (Micah 4:1-5). We mold our character in accord
with his will for us as we strive to rise higher and higher so as to stand on a
much higher plane that the world that besets us.
Holiness
begins in our heart and then it erupts into our lives molding our thoughts and
guiding us as we slowly but surely move toward the day of our departure from
this earthly life (Psalms 48:14). We need to speak often with our Lord seeking
his blessings. We never encounter a difficulty that is too great for the Lord
to handle (1 Thess. 5:17, Phil. 4:6-7, 1 Pet. 5:7). We need to feed on his word
because in those words we have eternal life (John 6:66, James 1:21, 1 Pet. 2:2,
2 Tim. 2:15, Heb. 5:11-14). Being nourished by his word we will let him be our
guide every step of the way (2 Tim. 3:16-17, 2 Pet. 1:3). We are weak, frail
human beings but we serve a living God who is our strength, our defender, our
shield and so long as we are holy, he will hear us when we call out to him and
at his throne of grace we will find mercy and all the help we need (1 Pet.
3:12, Heb. 4:16).
There
is an appealing beauty to a life of holiness, a life that is dedicated,
disciplined and distinctive to and for God. The world desperately needs to see
Christians who are holy!
Charles
Hicks
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