God’s watering place is holy living
ps 23:2 “He leads me”
As sheep need water so do we as humans? The Good Shepherd knows where the best drinking water is. He is the one that goes before us to make sure that we are provided with good drinking water. If sheep does not get water it will die for it is composed of 70% water. With out water it will lose its vitality, strength and vigor. With no water, dehydration will set in and this will cause serious damage to the welfare of the sheep. We have a built in gauge that tells us we are thirsty and in need of water.
So the soul of each and every person has a need of the water of the Spirit of God. When sheep are, thirsty they become restless and if they are not lead to clean pure water will drink from they will seek out polluted waters that can cause them to pick up diseases and germs that will lead to be unhealthy.
A thirsty soul can only have their thirst quenched by the Good Shepherd’s spiritual water. Let us look at MT 5:6 Blessed are they, which do hunger, and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. JN 7:37-3 On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, "If you are thirsty, come to me! If you believe in me, come and drink! For the Scriptures declare that rivers of living water will flow out from within." (When he said "living water," he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)
Even though we have access to the Holy Spirit and a life of holiness there are many who are trying to satisfy in drinking from the things of this world. Let me ask you a personal question, “How much time have you spent in prayer and bible reading in comparison to how much time you spent on watching TV, on the internet, reading newspapers and books, working at your job and listening to the radio?
As you read and study about the religions of this world, you will find man trying to work to please or find God in a way that is not given in the Bible. We even read that some of God’s people are seeking in the wrong places. JERE 2:13 “For my people have done two evil things: They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!”
I want to ask the question that all of us have to answer, “How do you view living a holy life? Do you think of it as a beautiful and exciting life or one that is to hard to live with to many rules to live up to? God tells us more than once that we are to be holy. The Bible also says He is able to make us holy. There are churches today that are full of Christian nurseries because the people have become stuck in what they believe to be eternal security and are not growing in their likeness to Christ. Can one that is saved from sin remain the same in their daily living? Would you like to have six-year-old child that decided that crawling was where he wanted to stay and so never took up walking. This child wants us to carry them around because they decided to stay in a crawling stage. Would like to be carrying around a 50# child? When we are saved, we are to grow in holiness like learning to walk. I want us to not think of holiness as a certain church doctrine but as the foundation to a wholeness of human life. It is God’s call on our life. I want us to consider five aspects to holy living.
I. Holiness is first all about Jesus. We can all agree that Jesus was holy. Some have given us to believe that if we take Jesus into our lives we will gain self worth, good health, prosperity and become emotionally stable. I know and have heard of people who have given their lives to Christ yet lived in sickly bodies, had little wealth, had anxiety and lacked feeling good about their self worth. Look at the life of Jesus. He was born in a poor family, never owned many of the things that we think are necessities in life, was ridiculed, suffered much and even his own family did not believe in Him. He lived a holy life. It is of interest that Jesus lived holy but never said, “Now if you just want to live a holy life here is step 1, 2, 3. He lived a holy life that was to be watched and learned. I do not have time to argue about theology on doctrinal themes with people because much of it can be interpreted in the way we would like. What we need to know about a holy life is found in Jesus.
2. Holiness is about being like Jesus. A Christian disciple is live as his Lord lived. Christ when we invite Him into our lives is now to become Master and Lord. Being a disciple is to be like the one we are following. In the O. T., we have a good example in Elisha following Elijah. It is good to let people know that when they come to Christ and are saved they are gong to go t heaven when they die. We also need to know that as we live here on earth we need to get more of heaven in us. Heaven is a place of holiness. If we are to be holy, we have to obey God as Jesus did while He was here on earth. We must put into action what Jesus practiced and let His attitude be our attitude. This means we have to let the Holy Spirit have complete rule in our lives. We let Him have the freedom to make us holy. It is not can I be holy, but how holy do I want to be.
III. Holiness is a relationship. Some hold on to the second blessing of sanctification as though it was a Christmas gift. Paul said, “Have your received the Holy Spirit since you believed?” This tells us that after we are saved we must take another step of faith and let he Holy Spirit become Lord in our lives. The Holy Spirit is offered; we can receive Him and then believe we are done spiritually. I don’t understand how it is that Christians can be saved and then get stuck with all has been done so I need just to sit here and wait for God to take me to heaven. How holy can one be that does nothing? Beyond salvation there are others who believe that when they are sanctified that now that they have the Holy Spirit they are secure and have nothing else to do to grow spiritually. Being holy means that we belong to God and are in a relationship with Him. A relationship is not just list of rules but getting to know the other person. A holy person is living on whom he belongs to and giving of love and devotion to him. Holiness is a journey and not a one-time crisis where our lives are changed. Holiness continues all of our lives. Jesus did not give up on living until all was completed that He was sent here to do. He could say, “It is finished,” because it was. He came back from the dead with life over death. He continues forever in heaven. One has said, “Repentance is the porch of complete salvation.” Holiness follows as we let Him have our whole house. I heard a message preached one time about letting the Holy Spirit into al of our lives and it was said that we even have to give up what is in the closets or rooms that might be hidden from plain sight. Being holy is letting Christ into every room of our lives. Just because we have been saved from, sin does not make us perfect. We have to let God work on our hearts, which the Bible says are desperately wicked. We can believe that we are saved and going to heaven because of what Christ has done for us. We are not to fret and worry about our salvation for Jesus did a perfect work. Our lives after we are saved are to grow in our relationship with Christ. Before we were saved, we had no relationship. We grow in holiness as we better our relationship with Him.
IV. Holiness is developed as we meet with others in church. John Wesley wrote: “Converts with no nurturing become like still born babies.” “I am more convinced than ever that preaching like an apostle without joining together those that are awakened and training them up in the ways of God is only begetting children for the murderers.” To help prevent this he called together those who had come into salvation to class meetings. In these meetings, the believers would confess any sin, they needed to, hold themselves accountable to the group, give encouragement to others to keep on and monitor their progress in their walk with the Lord. I would not be in the place of being holy that I am today if I had not been under the watch and care of the church. A holy person should come from a holy people.
V. Holiness is best described as love. 1 Tim. 1:5 “The purpose of my instruction is that all the Christians there would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and sincere faith.” Living a holy life does not happen is a moment of time. Love grows. Our goal is to get right with God and then grow in love for Him. Perhaps the best illustration of this is marriage. On June 7, 1968, I had an appointment to go to a wedding where I was to be married to a girl named Joan. I could have showed up and went through all the ritual that takes place and legally I would have been married. What would Joan have thought when the ceremony was over and the preacher said we were man and wife if I would have taken off with my friends to play golf for the weekend? I could say yes I am married which made us man and wife so let us go on with life. That would be like one who lets God come into their lives and then never talks with God or reads His word. I did not go and play golf but spent the weekend with Joan because I wanted to get to know her. I have spent over 40 years getting to know her because we spend time together. We love each other and want to be together. In living a holy life, it is a love relationship with Jesus Christ.
Creed to Live By: Don’t undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special. Don’t set your goals by what other people deem important. Only you know what is best for you. Don’t take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them as you would your life, for without them, life is meaningless. Don’t let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future. By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life. Don’t give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying. Don’t be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is this fragile thread that binds us to each other. Don’t be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave. Don’t shut love out of your life by saying it’s impossible to find. The quickest way to receive love is to give love; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love is to give it wings. Don’t dismiss your dreams. To be without dreams is to be without hope, to be without hope is to be without purpose. Don’t run through life so fast that you forget not only where you’ve been, but also where you are going. Don’t forget, a person’s greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated. Don’t be afraid to learn. Knowledge is weightless, a treasure you can always carry easily. Don’t use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved. Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way. Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery and today is a gift: that’s why we call it The Present. By Nancy Sims.
