As Christians we are called to be holy (1Peter 1:15-16). Funny how little you hear about that these days. It used to be preached about a lot more, but often times those preaching it were laying down some self imposed rules to live by; things that God never equated to holiness. Perhaps this is why people have steered from talking about it. The word holy has been sullied by the misrepresentation of its meaning by legalistic ministers and now there’s this fear of running people off at the mere mention of it. Many have defined holy as perfection. In their efforts to get people to live perfectly they have veered from the course and fallen into the trap of legalism. And based on what we read throughout the Bible, legalism is never going to cut it. It is based on the works of man. I think about all of those religious rituals that were required in Old Testament times. Don’t get me wrong, they had a purpose. Because Christ had not come onto the scene, there was a need to be cleansed from our unholiness. But once Christ came, the need to practice all of these rituals was eliminated. Christ was the perfect sacrifice. The one time sacrifice. All we needed was him.

So once we’ve been saved, how are we to be these holy people that God has called us to be? Can this be achieved in our own strength? Let me pause here for a minute and say that if perfection in the truest sense of the word were the requirement to be considered holy, then in our own strength we could never attain holiness.  And that would be a cause for frustration and discouragement if we thought we could never be pleasing in the eyes of God. That being said, I doubt very seriously that the Bible would tell us to be holy if it were an impossibility. So, let’s look at 1 Peter 1:13-16 for a moment.

13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

These verses cause me to believe that part of being considered holy revolves around us being obedient children who no longer conform to the evil desires we once had prior to the revelation of Jesus Christ. If you think about it, all sin comes as a result of disobedience to God’s word. Some may claim ignorance (they didn’t know it was sin), but let’s be real here…if you didn’t know a crime was a crime, do you think you’d be able to tell the judge you didn’t know it was wrong and get off scott free? Oh, you could tell him, and he might show you a little mercy, but ignorance isn’t an excuse to commit a crime. And grace isn’t a license to sin. Yes, we will sin. And when we sin we have a mediator, Jesus Christ. But I believe that true repentance is required if we are striving to live holy lives. We cannot think that a ritual of confession is all that is required. Our hearts must be grieved by sin. We must want to turn from sin.

When we accept Christ into our hearts, he comes to live in us. Our sins are forgiven. So, even though we in our own strength can never be perfect, we now have the perfect one living within us. And he has made provision for those times when we do mess up and sin. In 1 John 1:9 it tells us “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” I like that. It’s an awesome feeling to know that when I sin I can come to Jesus for forgiveness. The slate is wiped clean. And you know, it’s like I am perfect. Not because of anything I’ve done, but because of the blood of Jesus.

I was thinking about David and Bathsheba. Now, if you know the story you know that David committed some pretty awful sins. But David was still considered a man after God’s heart. Why? Because he had true repentance for his actions once he was confronted by Nathan the prophet. You can read about that repentance in Psalms 51. The part I like most in that passage is found in verse 4. It says: “Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.” Even though David had committed these sins against other people, ultimately the sin was against God due to His disobedience.  David realized that God was not seeking some ritualistic sacrifice, but rather a heart that was truly sorry for the sin. God’s desire was a broken and contrite heart. So what does this mean? To me it means that you are crushed by the fact that you’ve sinned against God and you want his forgiveness. Your desire is to turn from the sin and not repeat it. Have you ever had this revelation of the sin you’ve committed and it kind of hit you like a ton of bricks? That’s exactly what happened with David. Maybe you have committed a particular sin and you would say you were sorry, but later you’d do it again. And then the guilt and condemnation would come. And maybe these accusations by the accuser only hindered you from repenting because you felt like God was mad at you or something. You felt like God couldn’t possibly forgive you. Years ago I was really struggling with a particular sin. One day I was praying about it and God showed me a visual image of what he saw when I did this…it was like a light bulb came on. I was totally crushed by it. My heart was grieved. This wasn’t condemnation; it was conviction. And let me assure you, there is a difference. Condemnation offers no hope, but conviction is filled with hope. So when you hear those voices in your head telling you that you are this horrible person that God cannot forgive, you can be sure that it’s condemnation at work. But when you have a revelation of your sin, and there is heartbreak, it is conviction.

All this being said, let me say that even though I know I can never be perfect, I know that I will continually strive to live a life pleasing to God...a holy life. And where I fall short, the blood of Jesus is there to cover me. His grace is sufficient. May I never take that grace for granted...

~jan~