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                                                                  HOLINESS

…let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness our of reverence for God.  (2 Corinthians 7:1)

Yesterday at church, our pastor continued on his teaching on 1 Peter.  Since 1 Peter is one of my favorite books of the Bible, I have been enjoying these sermons.

He preached on Chapter 1:13-25 and pointed out “mandates” for pleasing God.  I have read this chapter

many times, but it was interesting to actually look at it as a list.  

The mandates:  Prepare your mind for action.  Keep sober in spirit.  Fix your hope completely on the

grace of God.  Do not be conformed to your former lusts.  Be holy in all your behavior.  Conduct

yourselves in fear during the time of you stay on earth.  Fervently love one another from the heart.

The one that struck me the most out of this passage was “be holy.”  The whole of that sentence in verse

14-15 is: “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lust which were yours in your

ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior, because

it is written, ‘you shall be holy, for I am holy.’”

I looked up the definition of holy online and found this from the KJV Dictionary: “Applied to human beings, holiness is purity of heart or dispositions, sanctified affections; piety; moral; moral goodness, but not perfect.”

One scripture that you just can’t get around in regard to holiness is Hebrews 12:14: “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy, without holiness no one will see the Lord.” That about says it all, doesn't it?

So, it’s good to pray this prayer: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.  (Psalms 139:23-24)

How do we go about perfecting holiness?  Not that we will ever attain it here on this earth, but it does seem obvious that we are to pursue it.

“And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness: it will be for those who walk on that Way.  The unclean will not journey on it, wicked fools will not go about on it.”  (Isaiah 35:8)

The unclean and the wicked.  That’s not us, right?

There are two places in the Bible that tell us the sins that will keep us out of heaven.  

Galatians 5:19-21: “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Revelation 21:8: “But the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons, and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

While we WILL slip up at times, for the most part, those of us who claim Jesus’s name wouldn’t do these things, especially on a regular basis, right?

But what about our entertainment?  Do we enjoy these sins in our books and movies?  Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 5:28:  looking lustfully at someone means we have already committed adultery with them in our heart.  Would that apply to these other sins also?

In other words, why would we read or watch for entertainment the sins that caused Jesus to die on the cross?

I write this because I recently fell below the standard, I have set for myself.

I don’t read things with profanity in them, because reading and hearing profanity on a regular basis

means I begin to hear those words in my head in reaction to certain things.  I try very hard to keep my

mind clean.

But last month, I went through another bout with covid, and immediately afterwards, I got a massive

toothache that was even worse than covid.  So, I was pretty much down for about two weeks.  The 'on

the couch all day' kind of down.  To pass the time, I read books on kindle.  Now, I do love paper books,

but I also love kindle, because I can get books immediately, and I can ready them in the dark.  The

downside to kindle is that you can’t flip through them first to see if they are clean.  As I lay on the couch, I

downloaded books and in my tired, sick, hurt state, I read a book that had profanity, and another that

wasn’t as clean as I usually insist on.

And it did something to me.

The next thing I knew, I was considering a movie, that according to IMBD, was a Christian movie, but had

a brief glance of male nudity.  I thought, well, the kids are teenagers now, and they could probably see

that without damage.

As soon as those thoughts went through my mind, God chastised me…

And I knew, what am I thinking??  Why would I put that before my own eyes or that of my teenaged

daughter?

Forgive me, God, I have gotten off track.  I will get right back on track.  Forgive me.

So, I now have a renewed sense of getting back to holiness.  Which is why hearing 1 Peter 1 talk about holiness yesterday made me feel happy to be clean again.

Psalm 101:2-3 I will be careful to lead a blameless life - when will you come to me?  I will conduct the affairs of my house with a blameless heart.  I will not look with approval on anything that is vile.  I hate what faithless people do; I will have no part of it.

And always remember Hebrews 12:14: “without holiness, no one will see the Lord.”