Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
1 Peter 1:16
This week while sitting and watching and loving our brand new little Hope, I have been thinking. I have had lots of time to think while sitting up in the night. What have I been thinking about? Glad you ask! Holiness.
Our Lord desires for us to be holy. The word holy is translated from the same Hebrew and Greek words that we also read in our Bibles as sanctify and saint. These terms mean to be set apart for special service or to be set apart for God. Upon salvation, we are eternally sanctified in our position before God. We are declared justified...Holy! How is this? It is because the saved are placed in Christ and we are seen by a holy God as one of His children...Holy! We are in this state not because we have been good or good enough, but because of the finished work of Jesus Christ and our faith in Him.
Then, there is a practical holiness that we are to show in our daily living, of which I am focussing on in this reading. Once we are saved, we should be living a holy life.
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 Cor. 7:1
This text teaches us that one can NOT live holy until he is first declared holy eternally through salvation and their trusting in Christ. But, having received that promise, we then should strive to live a holy life. The text reads, "perfecting holiness." That word perfecting means to complete, accomplish, to take upon oneself, maturing. Thus, every saved person should strive to live a Holy life! So what is holy living?
Being raised in a Baptist church, I have heard all my life that we need to live Holy! So what is Holy living? It has been preached from the beginning. It is taught throughout God's Word. It is thundered from our independent fundamental Baptist pulpits...so what is Holy living?
I set out to ask some Baptist preachers, teachers, and students. My question was, "We are to be holy, so what is holiness?" Their responses were...
Perfect like God.
Sinless or a sacredness in a Heavenly sense
Striving toward behaving according to God's plan for us to live
Spot Free
The Absence of Ungodliness
Adopting the characteristics and attitudes of God
There were many other answers, but this gives one the idea. With only one exception, every person asked started their answer with these words, "That is a good question, I'm not sure." If we are to be living holy, if it has been taught since Eden, preached throughout God's Word, and thundered from pulpits today, shouldn't we understand what holiness is? I believe the true answer is, most do not trully understand holiness!
In no way am I going to claim to have figured out holiness, but I will say that I have been thinking about it.
We Know Holiness is not participating in homosexuality; but "christians" laugh at jokes about it.
We know holiness is not drinking liquor; but "christians" see it passed down the aisle at a baseball game.
We know holiness is not listening to AC/DC; but we pay money to sit in a basketball arena to have our ears pounded with the same songs.
We know holiness is dressing to cover our nakedness; but we go to the football game where the cheer leaders dance and get us to cheer on our team.
We know holiness is not using the Lord's name in vain; but we pay money each month to have cable television brought into our homes using those same words.
We know holiness is not going to the movie house; but can't wait to purchase the DVD as soon as it comes out.
We know holiness is not to murder; but we love CSI.
We know holiness is "Psalms and Hymns and SPiritual Songs;" but we sure like our country love song.
Get the idea? No wonder our children are confused!
My thoughts....
1. Holiness is a perfecting or maturing. We SHOULD, MUST, and EXPECT to be more holy every day. There are so many areas in my life where God is working on me. So many things I used to do that I would not do now and think is wrong now. There are things I do now, that probably will not be able to do next year. Why is that? People say its because I think I am better than them or that I am putting on a show because I really am not that way. No my friend, I am perfecting holiness. The first song my sister and I sang in church was "He's still working on Me," and it is more true today than ever before. The point is, if you cannot see a progression in holiness in your life, there is something wrong. We should be perfecting holiness.
2. God is holy. He is the definition of Holiness. "For I am Holy" He said.
3. We will probably, because of our flesh, never truly understand holiness until we get to Heaven. When Isaiah saw the Lord in chapter 6, his first words were "Holy, Holy, Holy". When we see God, we then will truly understand holiness.
We must strive to be holy and should be able to see a progession in our walk of holiness. I enjoy going to the Cincinnati Reds Game. I love college basketball, etc. Can we do these things and be holy?
1 comment:
"We know holiness is not to murder; but we love CSI."
Very true indeed. Something I find interesting among Christians is the fact that they think it is wrong to watch a film with sex, drugs, language, nudity, etc. But they will watch any action flick with any amount of murderer.
But, what I find totally misleading is the fact that we judge movies, generally, based on what we should/shouldn't see, such as the language, drugs...basically sin.
I however, do enjoy movies with terrible people in them, but not for the reasons some might. I do think it's a sin to watch a film and see someone killed and think that it's "cool" or "justified". But to watch a film and see someone killed and realize the trueness of what just happened and gleam from the film the underlying message.
I think this way because if the Bible were a film, I would also see cases of rape, murder, filthy language, sex, nudity, pridefulness, drunkeness, incest, homosexuality. It is what we can gleam from these stories that make us better people, and holier.
Now, I am not going to claim that films made by some guy in LA and the Holy Bible are in any way comparable. What I am saying is, the Bible tells us to abstain from sin, but following that it tells us to examine it. I feel this is what some films do. While Hollywood markets a lot of films with murder or profanity or nudity, as being about those things, this simply is not always the case. Granted I will say it does happen more often than not.
As long as we view film as an art that should be examined and studied and realize that the movie may not be the sin, but what we gleam from the movie is. If you would like, a film I really admire, is a drama called "Seven". It is about a murderer who kills people who have committed one of the 7 deadly sins. I know that 7 deadly sins is not a Baptist idea, but a catholic idea, but the film examines sin in such a precise way that I have really learned a lot about God from looking past th exterior and into the heart of the art.
Anyways, now, I don't know if you'll agree or not. I was not trying to really prove anything I guess, just bring in a different perspective and see what you thought of it.
I am glad you are getting better daily. I am trying to do the same.
-your anonymous critic =)
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