Tuesday, October 19, 2010

THE CHALLENGE OF HOLY LIVING

General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, said to a new group of leaders, “I want you young men always to bear in mind that it is the nature of a fire to go out; you must keep it stirred and fed and the ashes removed.”

Faithfulness to God takes a commitment to holy living.

1 Peter 1:14-16 (NLT) Obey God because you are his children. Don't slip back into your old ways of doing evil; you didn't know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God – who chose you to be his children – is holy. For he himself has said, "You must be holy because I am holy."

We may have a tendency to come to church and want to belong to and live with the family of God without trusting Him or submitting to His will and ways. We want the blessings but not the commitments or obligations. We may still feed our appetite for the things of the world. We may live according to a “secular worldview” rather than a “Christian worldview”. Without God’s strength and guidance, it doesn’t take long for us to begin to compromise and live in disobedience.

WHAT HELPS US TO LIVE HOLY LIVES?

1. Take out the garbage.
 2 Tim. 2:20-21 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

Whatever impurities we may have in our lives, need to be cleansed from us. Get rid of the garbage. Get rid of anything that is displeasing to the Lord and dishonors Him.

2. Choose Christianity’s worldview.
 1 John 4:5-6 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

God’s people and the people of the world can be identified by what they talk about. If a Christian talks or acts from a “non-Christian worldview”, then Christ is not ruling in their lives. They’re living in disobedience to God’s Word.

We must always “check” our worldview. The reason is because it’s easy to begin to “absorb” the “secular worldview” and our spiritual eyes are dimmed and we distort God’s truth. We then “filter” what we read in the Bible through the grid of a secular worldview. And then we may misinterpret what the Bible says and even think the Bible can be “contradicted”.

This is why we must stay close to the Lord and keep our lives “cleansed” from all sin.  We must grow in knowing God more, which leads to trusting Him more, and therefore obeying Him more.

3. Pay attention to warnings.
Col. 1:28 (NLT) So we continue to preach Christ to each person, using all wisdom to warn and to teach everyone, in order to bring each one into God's presence as a mature person in Christ.

Warnings are good. We should take to heart the warnings God gives us . Being warned is a part of what God says to us.

4. Be trustworthy with what we get from God’s Word.
Col. 1:10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

Live your life worthy of the name of Christ. Live to please Him. See to it that your life produces goodness. And grow to know God more.

Commit to these things and you will see rewarding changes in the way you live as you grow in holy living.

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