Love: The Secret To Holiness (I Thessalonians 3:12-13)

Did you ever try to be holy?  How successful were you?  If you are like me, you found that the more you tried to be holy, the more difficult it became.  Let's don't get confused.  Being holy is not manifested by keeping rules or biblical standards of living.  The world is filled with people who live by such guidelines, but do not know Jesus as savior and therefore cannot be holy.  Is to be holy equal to being without sin?  If so, are any of us really holy?  My lawn chair hasn't sinned.  Is it holy?  Of course not.  Therefore being holy must mean something different.

Being holy means to be sacred.  When something is sacred, it has been set aside for God or his holy use.  Of course, the more we identify ourselves as set apart for God, the more we will desire to keep from sin.  But still that task remains an extremely difficult one.  However, The Apostle Paul teaches an important principle for accomplishing this goal.

And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13)

From this passage, we can see that we have the potential to be unnameable in holiness.  The means to such a state is through love.  The more we love--whether it be toward God or man--the greater success we will have at living a holy or sanctified life.  When we truly love our coworkers, we will not gossip, back bite or become envious at their success.  When we truly love, we will have pity towards those who have fallen into sin.  When we truly love, we will not view the opposite sex as a lust object.  When we truly love, we will desire to lift people up instead of pushing them down.  All of the latter works are those of a holy or sanctified person.  If we want to be holy, we need to possess love.

Are you holy? The answer will be determined by how much you love.  As the strength of a chain is determined by its weakest link, the strength or degree of your love is determined by how much love you have for the unloveable.  So again I ask you, are you holy?

If you would like to read more of these thoughts in a hard copy format, my new book is now available at the link below.

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Fruits of Righteousness (Philippians 1:11)

Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:11)

Have you ever felt that you cannot live the Christian life?  Do you see yourself as inadequate in being able to respond to life's problems in a spiritual manner?  If so, you are right where God wants you to be.

Many believe that living the Christian life is accomplished by making up your mind to live for Christ and then do it.  It may sound right, but it is far from the truth.  Years ago in a bible college class, I heard a young man present an assignment on sanctification.  In short, his message contained two thoughts: "I am sanctified positionally in my relationship with God.  This is God's part.  Sanctifying me practically (or lifestyle) is my part."  So he believed that his position in Christ was done by God, but his work at living more holy was done by him.  How far from the truth this is.  It is God who sanctifies me positionally and also makes me holy.  Without him, I can do nothing and will be nothing.  

This passage declares that the fruit of righteousness, which God wants to see in our lives, comes by Jesus Christ.  If you are at the point in your life where you recognize that you cannot live the Christian life, you are at a good point.  You will only come to Christ for him to perform your practical sanctification after you have recognized your inability to accomplish it.  God wants to sanctify your life and as a result receive all glory and praise.

I have a saying that I would share with people as I presented the gospel.  I would tell them, "You need to stop trying and start trusting."   They needed to stop trying to get to heaven and start trusting Jesus.  Along the same lines, we need to stop trying to be holy and allow Jesus to perform the work in us that we cannot do.  If I do it, I am only making the outside of the cup clean, but if Jesus sanctifies my life, I will be changed from the inside out.  

Ask yourself, "The fruit that people see, is it my fruit or Jesus'?"

If you would like to read more of these thoughts in a hard copy format, my new book is now available at the link below.

https://www.createspace.com/4441566