After spending some time on righteousness, I decided to go into the topic of holiness. Some people use righteousness and holiness interchangeably, but they aren’t exactly the same thing. Righteousness we only obtain through being justified by Jesus. We cannot be righteous on our own; it is all through the efforts of what Jesus did on the cross. We have more of a part to play with holiness because holiness is dedication/consecration to God. Jesus cannot force us to be holy, but He can help us get there. That’s why there is a Holy Spirit because He helps us become holy and gives us the power to live a life set apart for God.
God Called Us to be Holy
I Peter 1:14-16 NKJV says, “As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” When we are born again, we are not to return to our old ways but rather live a life where we constantly aim to live like Christ. And that doesn’t come by just accepting Jesus; more work is needed on your end. It is foolish for someone to think that everything changes after salvation and that you have nothing else to do. Yes, you’ll have eternal life, but there is so much more to accepting Jesus than that. Our entire lives are supposed to change; the way we talk, think, and act, it is all supposed to mimic Jesus. And the more your life imitates Jesus, the holier you are. This requires sacrifice, however, because your old ways are no longer acceptable.
Give Up the Old You
II Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new.” When we accept Christ, as I said before, our old ways have to die; that is the only way you can be holy as Christ is holy. You’ll lose your salvation if you continue your old habits and patterns. God doesn’t tell us to be holy as He is holy for no reason; He tells us this so that we can keep our salvation and be who He called us to be. I Peter 2:9-10 NKJV says, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” We are chosen people, God’s chosen people and we must live a certain way once we’re called. It is imperative to your purpose; you cannot live out your divine purpose if you don’t strive for holiness. The reason why God called us is so that we can “proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light,” which can also be said to spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, telling others how good God has been and what He has brought us out of!
You cannot do that if you don’t live a holy life; how can you spread the gospel, tell people how good God is, and live in your divine purpose if you live a sinful life? It’s impossible. It is God’s will for us to be holy, so living an unholy life would put us out of God’s will, and the most dangerous place on earth is to be outside of God’s will. When God chooses us to proclaim His gospel, some requirements come with it, including being holy.
I said earlier that being holy is dedication and consecration to God. So, what does that look like? It looks like giving up old things that you may have enjoyed in the past. Personally, I had to give up drinking alcohol and listening to certain kinds of secular music; that’s not all, but just examples. Giving up those things has allowed me to seek God more through music and be sober-minded so I can be more aware and diligent when it comes to the enemy’s attacks. With drinking, so many temptations come when you’re drunk, but I avoid them by not drinking at all and choosing to stay in God’s will. You will have to be different from everyone else; you will have to say no to friends sometimes, turn down a drink, and turn off a certain song because to be holy, you should consume things that bring you closer to God. Holiness is being set apart; it’s not following the crowd; it’s following God no matter what. And don’t say it’s too hard; we have the Holy Spirit of God Himself living inside us; we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us! He equips us to live like Jesus; we do that by listening to His leading and allowing God to direct our paths (Proverbs 3:5) and acknowledging Him so that we can remain in His will.
How Can I Be Holy?
Galatians 5:16-24 gives us insight on how to live a holier life. I said before that being holy is being set apart, dedicated, and consecrated to God. It’s not living by worldly trends but living by God’s standards. And Galatians give us an insider into what God’s standard is. The passage begins with, “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish.” God wants us to walk in the Spirit once we are born again through accepting Jesus. Here, the verse clearly states how the flesh and the Spirit are at constant war. The flesh hates what the Spirit wants, and the Spirit hates what the flesh wants. That’s why when we get tempted, we are faced with a choice. You have one part of you telling you to give in and another part of you to choose God; obviously, to live a holy life, you must choose God every time. Though you may want to do something right, your flesh may convince you to do wrong, or even the flipped way, when you want to do something wrong, your Spirit convinces you to do right! You can only live a holy life if you first understand the fight within you between your flesh and your Spirit. This will help you discern temptation and choose God.
The next part of the verse says, “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” When we walk by the Spirit, we walk in freedom. The law, also known as the curse of the law in Deuteronomy 28, is what Jesus redeemed us from. Additionally, as the Spirit leads us, it allows us to walk in the total freedom given to us by Jesus. Everyone living an unholy life is subject to the curse of the law, but we are not because once we are born again, we are called to live a holy life, and a holy life exempts us from the curse. I recommend reading Deuteronomy 28 because it should encourage you to live a clean and holy life. You do not want to be subject to the curse of the law but rather the blessing which is available to us when we live a spirit-led, holy life.
Galatians then goes to tell us the works of the flesh, which are “adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” I went into depth about these sins in The Breakdown on Sin and The Breakdown on Sin Part Two. Some are recognizable, like adultery, fornication, idolatry, contentions, and jealousy; if you recognize ANY of these as things you struggle with, give it to God NOW because you will not inherit the Kingdom of God living this way. God tells us to live holy because He doesn’t want us to miss heaven, He wants to spend eternity with you. God never tells us anything if there is no purpose to it. We must get rid of these habits and qualities and take up those of the Holy Spirit.
The verse continues and says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such, there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Living a life that is filled with these qualities is what’s going to lead you toward holiness. This is what will make it evident to others that you are filled with the Holy Spirit. As you follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, you will experience more love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, etc. You will not get this from living a sinful life, so you must crucify your flesh daily and its passions and desires and live by the Holy Spirit, which will lead you towards holiness. Living a holy life guarantees eternal life, so start making some changes, changing some habits, getting rid of ungodly friends, and start consecrating yourself to the Lord. Be different, have people look at you, and be able to tell that you are different and that your life is for a higher purpose than self-pleasure.
Romans 6:10-13 says, “For the death that [Jesus] died, He died to sin once and for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”
To truly live a life in our God-given purpose, we must live our lives to God, just like Jesus. Give up sin and not let it reign or rule us. We must not allow our bodies to be used for unrighteousness because we are vessels to be used by God. You must live a holy life to be a vessel of God; God cannot and will not use you if you live in sin. God wants to do amazing things in your life, but He needs a clean, holy, and righteous vessel to perform them. He needs an instrument of righteousness, someone who is alive to God and dead to sin, someone constantly striving to be like Jesus. If this sounds like someone you want to be, and you haven’t dedicated your life to Jesus but have this tug on your heart to leave sin behind and follow God, pray this prayer…
“Dear Heavenly Father, I repent of my sins and turn my back to them. I believe Jesus is the Son of God and that He died on the cross for my sins and rose on the third day. I accept Him into my heart now. I believe Jesus is Lord, and By faith, I give Him my whole life, heart, mind, and soul. Amen!”
If you said that prayer, click on the I Just Got Saved page and fill out the form for prayer and a Bible!
Be encouraged and blessed!
Later this week, I’ll be going more into depth about what it means to be set apart for God, what it really means to be, and to live holy. So stay tuned, and see you later this week! I hope this helped, and God bless!
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