Holy Living

God is holy, and what is true of God must be true of his people. We should try to be like God in every way. Since God is holy, He expects us to live holy lives. In 1 Peter 1:16, it says, "be holy because I am holy."

Holiness means being separated from the ungodly ways of the world and set apart for God. It means being like Him and dedicated to Him while living to please Him. There are benefits for living a holy life. Psalm 92:12–14 says the righteous will flourish in the court of God and yield fruit in their old age.

Holiness isn't optional for believers. Hebrews 12:14 teaches that "without holiness no one will see the Lord."

We achieve holiness by faith and by the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is both a work of God and a work of believers. As Christians, we must take an active role in keeping our lives pure before God. Together with the Holy Spirit, we must work to get rid of all sin in our lives and purify ourselves "from everything that contaminates the body and spirit."

True holiness requires that we have an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, devote ourselves to prayer and reading God's word, obeying God and putting sin to death in our lives.

This doesn't mean we will always be perfect, but we should try to move closer and closer to it. Jesus is able to help us. By the grace of God, we have died with Jesus and have been set free from the power of sin. Therefore, we need not and ought not to continue to sin.

In the Bible, holiness is not described as a gradual process of forsaking sin little by little. Instead, it is seen as clear act where by grace we are set free from the bondage of Satan and we make a clean break from sin in order to live for God. However, it's also a lifelong process where we must decide daily to live a holy lifestyle. We are progressively transformed into Christ's likeness.

 

Holiness should be the goal and purpose of every believer, so let us strive to be holy as He is holy.

Things That God Cannot Do

I've always liked Matthew 19:26, where Jesus said with God all things are possible. I've even quoted it many times. It's true. God IS omniscient, omnipresent and all powerful. But the Bible also tells us there are some things that God simply cannot do. Before you discount that statement, read on and you'll see what I mean:

God cannot remember our sin. If we repent and accept the atoning grace of Christ’s sacrifice, God says He will remember our sin no more.

God also cannot justify sin without the remission of sin through the shedding of blood by Jesus. Hebrews 9:22 tells us that there is no remission of sin without the shed blood of Jesus. Jesus tells us in John 14:6 that no one comes to His father except through Him.

God can never break His promises. God made an everlasting covenant with Abraham in Genesis 13. When God says “forever,” He means “forever.”

God will never allow His people to be ashamed for there faith. John tells us in 1 John 2:28 and 1 John 4:17 that we will not be ashamed when He returns, and Paul says in Romans 1:16 that he is not ashamed of the good news of Jesus Christ.

 

Isaiah tells us God cannot share His glory with another. In Malachi 3:6, it says God cannot change, and Hebrews 13:5 tells us that God will never leave us or forsake us.

 

Our God is a mighty and awesome God, but I'm glad there are some things God just can't do.

Supreme Ruling

After last week's disappointing Supreme Court ruling to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act, I've been looking for a way to offer my perspective without sounding too "preachy." In my view, the decision is wrong because it violates the teachings of the Bible — that marriage is between one man and one woman.

People say this definition of marriage is outdated. They say we must "evolve" as a society to be more tolerant. They say times have changed, and we need to get on the right side of history and support the marriage of two people of the same gender.

Times have changed. But God and His Word haven't.

We can debate the issue in our courts and the public square, but we can't deny what God has declared in His Word. The Bible clearly says homosexual relationships are wrong. This isn't a gray issue. It's a sin issue. Romans 1:27 spells it out plainly. It says, "In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error."

I'm not the arbiter of "right" and "wrong." Neither is the U.S. Supreme Court. God is the ultimate judge, and He already gave us His plan for marriage. It will never change.

As I listened to all the bickering on TV about the decision, Mike Huckabee's commentary stood out as the most logical and well-reasoned. In it, he said, "I can’t defy the definition of marriage any more than I can defy the law of gravity. God created both and at the point I decided to follow Him in my Christian commitment, my life nor its rules belong to me any more."

For all true believers, there's only one position to take on the issue of marriage. We must take God's position that marriage is between a man and a woman.

Huckabee ended his commentary with this: "Courts said in 1857 that black people weren’t fully human and they were wrong. They said in 1962 that we couldn’t pray in school and they were wrong. In 1973, they said unborn children were disposable and expendable, and 56 million dead children later, they were wrong. And this week, for those of us who believe God created male and female, and who believe what Jesus said that a man shall leave his father and mother and a woman shall leave her home and the two will become one flesh, they were wrong again."

The Supreme Court had its say, but God has the final decision.

Heaven

Of all the promises in the Bible, the greatest is the assurance we have that Jesus is coming again. If you grew up in church, like I did, you probably heard this all your life. As surely as Jesus went to heaven, he will come back and take his followers to be with him in heaven forever.

This was the hope of New Testament Christians and is the hope of all believers today.

In John 14:2-3, Jesus said, " My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."

I don't think it will be much longer before we see that blessed hope — when Jesus will return. Everything is lining up perfectly with the prophesies in the Old Testament.

In Zechariah 12:2-3, it says, "Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about^... And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces."

When the prophet Zechariah spoke these words around 520 BC, Jerusalem lay in ruins. But God said it would become the focus of the world's attention. The world's attention is now focused on Jerusalem and Israel.

In Zechariah, it also says all nations will turn against Israel. We're seeing that happen every day. One day, the Bible predicts, Israel will have no allies, and all nations shall be gathered against her. The TV news shows you that we are on the road toward that battle. Even the U.S., which has been Israel's strongest ally for years, seems to be turning its back on Israel.

The timetable has been set, and the events are quickly playing out. It's just a matter of time now until we see Jesus return.

This great promise is comforting for all believers who desire "to be with the Lord forever." Therefore, let's encourage each other with these words: Jesus is coming soon.

The Vine and the Branches

In the parable of the vine and branches in John 15, Jesus describes himself as the true vine and his disciples as the branches. By remaining attached to Him as our source of life, we will produce good fruit.

John 15:1-2 says, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so it will be even more fruitful."

God expects us to bear fruit. This fruit can be spiritual virtues, such as the fruit of the spirit listed in Galations 5: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Fruit also means working to win others to Christ. We can't produce this fruit by our own efforts. We can be fruitful only if we stay connected to the life source, which is Jesus. John 15:4 says, "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine."

Just as a tree branch has life only as long as the life of the vine flows into it, so we, as believers, have Christ's life in us only as long as we allow His life to flow into us through an ongoing relationship with Him.

It's critical that we stay plugged in to the life source. We do this by keeping God's Word in our hearts and making it the guide for our lives. We also do it by keeping Christ's commands and staying in right relationship with Him by resisting temptation and keeping our lives clean from sin. This means repenting when we fall to temptation.

God prunes us so we can become more fruitful. He wants to remove anything that hinders the life-flow of Christ into our lives. This can be painful sometimes, but it's necessary to remain in Christ.

The parable of the vine and branches makes it clear that we shouldn't believe "once in the vine, always in the vine" or "once saved, always saved." In this parable, Jesus gave his disciples a strong warning that it's possible for believers to fall away from faith, fail to remain in Him and ultimately face the eternal fire of hell.

The importance of this parable is to show our relationship with Christ is not based on a past decision or past experience. Instead, it must be a progressive relationship where we are consistently growing in Christ as He lives in us and gives us His power.

Running To Win

The Corinthians must have loved sports almost as much as Americans do. The apostle Paul used the analogy of running a race to illustrate to the Corinthians that they should run life's race in service to Jesus Christ. That lesson applies to us today.

 

In 1 Corinthians 9:24, Paul tells us to run the race in an effort to win the prize. In other words, he's telling us we shouldn't just flounder along through life. We must constantly be seeking to find God's purpose in our life and to run to win the race.

The Bible also says we must "fight the good fight." Paul encourages Timothy to fight on and to fight the good fight. Paul likens Timothy’s service to the Lord as an intense struggle and says Timothy's struggle is not against flesh and blood but against powers in high places.

The Bible gives us several spiritual principles for how we should run our race. First, it says we must pursue righteousness. In 2 Timothy 2:21-23, it says we should flee youthful lust and pursue faith, love and righteousness.

Second, if we want to finish the race, we must be willing to endure hardship. Paul tells Timothy to be prepared to suffer persecution. Third, we must seek to fulfill our purpose. 2 Timothy 4:5-8 tells us to fulfill the purpose that God has before us.

Finally, we must never lose hope. John 3:16-17 tells us that whoever calls upon the Lord shall not perish but will have everlasting life. We must place our trust in Christ as we run our race. He is always here to help us. Romans 8:31 says if God is for us who can be against us, and 2 Timothy 4:17-18 promises us that God will deliver us from every evil.

Don't grow wearing in running your race. Run to win.

God of All Comfort

Life is hard. Really hard sometimes. But we can rest in the assurance that God never leaves us. His hope is a beacon of comfort.

In 2 Corinthians 1:3, it describes God as "the father of compassion and the God of all comfort."

He is the God of all comfort. In times of trouble, we need someone to stand beside us to give us strength, helping us and giving us encouragement. God fulfills this role. Whether we're facing sickness and disease or a national tragedy, like the Oklahoma tornado destruction, God comes to comfort us. He sends the Holy Spirit to help us in times of trouble.

The apostle Paul had a life filled with troubles. He describes some of his sufferings in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28: stripes . . . prisons . . . beaten . . . stoned . . . shipwrecked . . . perils of waters . . . robbers . . . in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

Yet, Paul learned that no suffering, however severe, could separate him from the comfort and compassion of the heavenly father. God was not distant from Paul in his trials. He was right there, identifying with the apostle, and comforting Paul.

God will comfort us, too. He may allow troubles in our lives for a season, but we shouldn't think that God has forsaken us or stopped loving us. We should remember that the same kind of troubles happened to God's faithful servants, like Paul.

God allows trials in our lives so that Jesus might come near and, as we look to Him in faith, give us the grace to overcome and bring us to victory.