Life with the Holy Spirit
A Call to Be Holy
God’s desire is for us to be holy. We were created “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27). God is holy, and He is concerned with our holiness. Listen to what God told Israel.
I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves about on the ground. I am the LORD who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy (Leviticus 11:44–45).
He told Israel to be holy like Him. God repeated this message in Leviticus 19:2, 20:7, and 22:31–33 because He was serious about holiness.
Hebrews 12:14 states, “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” Do we truly want to see God? We don’t get to see God unless we are holy. Remember, God is a holy God who doesn’t allow sin and darkness into His presence. Therefore, His call to be holy is something we must take seriously. To be holy, we must move toward godliness.
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live selfcontrolled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good (Titus 2:11–14).
Holiness begins when we are redeemed by the cleansing blood of Jesus; that happens after we repent of our sins and choose Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Salvation through Jesus Christ is our only way to overcome sin and reestablish relationship with God. In Titus 2:14, Jesus’ purpose was to redeem and purify. Only through His blood can we become holy; it purifies us of our ungodly impurities.
When Jesus is our Lord, then the power of the Holy Spirit is available to assist and strengthen us to say “No” to ungodly living. The Holy Spirit will help us overcome living as the world does—selfishly—and help us live godly lives. Jesus Christ is our only way to overcome sin, and the Holy Spirit is our only way to overcome selfishness. Paul encouraged Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:7, “Train yourself to be godly,” which is possible only through the power of the Holy Spirit. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Paul made it clear that if our lives have been reborn in Christ, our old sinful natures through Adam will be gone and our new lives in Christ will come. We will be called to live holy, not selfish lives.
Category: Spirit, Summer 2016
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