Living a holy life should be the goal of every Christian. It means that we are separated from the world, as we emulate Jesus Christ daily in our walk with God. This does not mean that we are perfect human beings. It only means that we must do our best to please God.
In Hebrews 12:14, the Bible says:
“Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”NIV.
So, what is “Holiness”?
Why must we live a Holy life?
What are the consequences of not living a Holy life?
How do we live a Holy life?
What are the rewards for living a Holy life?
Well, let’s first define what “Holiness” is.
One dictionary puts it like this:
“The quality or state of being holy.”
Now, that isn’t very helpful!
Let’s try to explain what holiness is. It’s to flee from sin. It is to live a life that pleases God. We cannot live life the way we think it should be lived. We need to have certain standard by which we measure our actions daily. That standard is the standard of God.
So, how will we know what God wants from us?
By reading our Bible daily. The Bible is our manual for daily living and God has given us his Word, so that we can read it and abide by its teachings.Also, sermons and teachings from annoited men and women of God will give us guidance on what to do and how to live a holy life.
Yes, God’s standards are very high. However, he has set those standards and if we say that we are his children, we need to live and abide by those standards.
Also, we need the grace of God daily to enable us to please God, after all, pleasing God should be our motive for our daily living.
So, why should we try to live a Holy life?
Well, the Lord commands it!
Remember, Hebrews 12:14 which says:
“Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”NIV.
So, holiness is a command from God, with a caveat attached to it. Anyone who is not holy will not see God. So, we must strive to lead a holy life if we must see God.
Now, it is not just seeing God in the hereafter, but to experience him now even in the real world. God is a Holy and righteous God. He lives in holiness, and so,anyone who wants to experience him or have a divine encounter with him must be holy.
God himself confirmed his holiness in 1 Peter 1: 15-16 : when he said:
“But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”KJV.
Holiness should be an attribute that all Christians must aspire to and attain. If we claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, then we have to be like Jesus Christ. He is our role model, and we need to live like him. It is true that sin is in the human nature and Jesus Christ was without sin. But living for Christ and like Christ is not negotiable in our Christian race.
Yes, holy living is hard work!
As we said before, holiness is very hard to define. So, let’s use some “reverse engineering” and see if we can make ourselves a little bit clearer.
Let’s define what holiness is not. In other words, what are the antonyms of holiness?
These are “ godlessnesses, sinfulness, impiety, ungodliness, irreverence, vileness, sinfulness, wickedness, hypocrisy,depravity, heinousness, monstrosity, sacrilegiousness” etc.
Now that we know what the opposite of holiness is, let us look at some of the qualities a holy person should possess to be holy.
Some of these qualities are:
“Piety, godliness, sanctity, blessedness, morality, devoutness, humility, righteousness, faith, grace, venerableness, reverence, sacredness etc”.
As you can see, the difference is clear!
Holiness trumps sinfulness any day!
So, what is the secret to holiness?
Humility.
We all know what it is to be humble before God. We also know that God hates the proud but loves the humble person. Let’s look at a few scripture verses that confirm this.
In James 4:6:
“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”NIV
In Matthew 23:12:
“For those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”NIV
In Proverbs 29:23:
“Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honor.”NLT
In Proverbs 3:34:
“He mocks proud mockers but shows favor to the humble and oppressed”NIV
A humble person who is not puffed up, will likely be a person who seeks holiness at all times. On the other hand, a proud person is likely to be so full of himself, that holiness is the last thing on his mind. He is too aware of how important, rich, powerful or influential he is to be humble or to seek holiness.
Jesus Christ has a perfect illustration for this in the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.
In Luke 18:9-14:
“To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else,Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”NIV.
Let us look at a man in the Bible who was so humble that when some people rose against him, God himself punished them. God takes care of his own! He sees the heart of everyone and rises to defend the humble.
In Numbers 12:1-16:
“While they were at Hazeroth, Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because he had married a Cushite woman. They said, “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t he spoken through us, too?” But the Lord heard them. So immediately the Lord called to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam and said, “Go out to the Tabernacle, all three of you!” So the three of them went to the Tabernacle.
(Now Moses was very humble—more humble than any other person on earth.) Then the Lord descended in the pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the Tabernacle. “Aaron and Miriam!” he called, and they stepped forward. And the Lord said to them, “Now listen to what I say:“If there were prophets among you,I, the Lord, would reveal myself in visions.I would speak to them in dreams. But not with my servant Moses.Of all my house, he is the one I trust. I speak to him face to face,clearly, and not in riddles!He sees the Lord as he is.So why were you not afraid to criticize my servant, Moses?”
The Lord was very angry with them, and he departed. As the cloud moved from above the Tabernacle, there stood Miriam, her skin as white as snow from leprosy. When Aaron saw what had happened to her, he cried out to Moses, “Oh, my master! Please don’t punish us for this sin we have so foolishly committed. Don’t let her be like a stillborn baby, already decayed at birth.” So, Moses cried out to the Lord, “O God, I beg you, please heal her!”
But the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had done nothing more than spit in her face, wouldn’t she be defiled for seven days? So, keep her outside the camp for seven days, and after that she may be accepted back.” So, Miriam was kept outside the camp for seven days, and the people waited until she was brought back before they traveled again. Then they left Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.”NLT
Do you know that one of the benefits of holiness is abundant blessing from God?
“How so?”, you may ask?
Well, God is not in the business of blessing unrighteousness or unholy persons. As a matter of fact, those ones are children of the devil. So, God will not waste his time blessing an unregenerated and despicable person. Although, truth be told, some extremely horrible human beings also pray to God before they carry out their nefarious activities.
Upon their return from a “successful operation “, some have been known to donate large sums of money to religious organizations to atone for their sins. This is totally unacceptable to God.
For the Bible says in Proverbs 15:8:
“The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.”KJV.
“The LORD is disgusted by gifts from the wicked, but it makes him happy when his people pray.”CEV
“How can we learn to be holy? Is holiness an inherited trait or can you learn to be holy?” Can a holy person suddenly deviate from the path of holiness and become an unrighteous man? Conversely, can an unrighteous man suddenly become a holy person?”
Well, let us start with a little child and trace the pathway to holiness through him or her.
When a child is born, he has no idea of what is right or wrong. That is why parents are very important in the life of a child. They teach him what is right or wrong. As soon as a child is able to crawl or walk, they begin to teach him not to put dirty things in his mouth. They try to prevent the child from touching things that may not be dangerous to an adult, but is dangerous to a toddler. For example, an electric socket.
Oftentimes, the first words that a child learns are “No” and “ Yes”. That is why they are very good at saying those two words! Also, children are very good at mimicking their parents, especially what they say. In fact, the reason children are good at picking up new language is because they are good repeating what they hear adults say. So, if you bring up a child in an environment where the parents use a lot of curse words, very soon, you will hear the child begin to curse like a sailor.
Even the Bible recognize the importance of a holy and righteous upbringing. It says in the Book of Proverbs 22:6:
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”KJV.
In Proverbs 1:7-9 , we read these interesting words:
“How does a man become wise? The first step is to trust and reverence the Lord!Only fools refuse to be taught. Listen to your father and mother. What you learn from them will stand you in good stead; it will gain you many honors.”
TLB.
Do you ever wonder why you do not have to sit a small child down and teach them what is evil or wrong? Yet, a parent has to take the time to teach them what is right!
The reason is this: every human being is born with both good and bad sides. Also, sin is inherent in man. Our first father, Adam, sinned and we are offsprings of his loins. That is why a person goes through life constantly battling feelings of evil and trying to do good. Apostle Paul put it like this. In Romans 7:15-25:
“I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I can’t. I do what I don’t want to—what I hate. I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience proves that I agree with these laws I am breaking. But I can’t help myself because I’m no longer doing it. It is sin inside me that is stronger than I am that makes me do these evil things. I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn I can’t make myself do right. I want to but I can’t. When I want to do good, I don’t; and when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. Now if I am doing what I don’t want to, it is plain where the trouble is: sin still has me in its evil grasp. It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love to do God’s will so far as my new nature is concerned; but there is something else deep within me, in my lower nature, that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. In my mind I want to be God’s willing servant, but instead I find myself still enslaved to sin.So you see how it is: my new life tells me to do right, but the old nature that is still inside me loves to sin. Oh, what a terrible predicament I’m in! Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature? Thank God! It has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord. He has set me free.” TLB
A child will soon become a teenager, and with that comes “Peer pressure”.
A child wants to fit in with his classmates and friends. So, when he goes to school, he is under a lot of pressure to fit in. It sometimes starts with how he sees his classmates dress, or their hairstyles. Sometimes, it’s how they walk with a swagger, or how they “sag their pants.
Suddenly, that “cute little pumpkin “ wants to have a punk hairstyle. He wants to pierce his tongue and get tattoos on his arms. Suddenly, he begins to talk back to his parents. He thinks it’s a way of asserting himself. You begin to hear words like “ I’m not a baby! I am 16 years old!” This is probably accompanied by eye rolling and loud sighs. Suddenly, they think they know more than their parents. It actually feels like they have forgotten all the good values that they have learned from their parents.
Some try smoking, sex and even drugs. Some get addicted to video games and other things.
The most vicious place to be in one’s teenage years is middle school or high school. It appears that the meanest human beings populate these institutions. These are young individuals, unsure of themselves, but trying so hard to be popular. It’s also a time of awareness of sexuality and being close to the opposite sex. Also, misinformation about the human body and peer pressure to belong leads to a lot of teenage pregnancy etc.tt
For those that don’t want to conform and bow to peer pressure, they are labeled as “geeks”, “weirdos”, “goody two shoes”, “teacher’s pet”etc”. However, no matter how horrible those days were, most people seem to get over it, as they move on in life to have wonderful careers and families. Core values of holiness and right living taught and learned prevails and society is better off for it.
So, what must we do to live a holy life every day?
Shun temptations and avoid bad company. Be rooted and grounded in the Word of God. Learn to take good decisions based on biblical teachings.
Crucify your flesh and learn to make the right choices.
Make the Holy Spirit your friend. He will guide you in the way of Holiness.
The rewards for holy living are endless. It includes, amongst other things, Joy unspeakable and the peace of God that passes all understanding.
Invitation to Salvation.
Jesus is calling you today. He is saying to you:
“Come to me all who are tired from carrying your heavy loads and I will give you rest”. Mathew 11:28
If you want to accept this invitation, pray to God. You can say something like this:
“Lord Jesus, I am a sinner. I confess my sins before you today. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I want to know you personally.I open the door of my life to you and ask you to come in and be my Lord and personal Savior.Take control of my life.Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life.Make me the kind of person that you want me to be. In Jesus name I have prayed. Amen.”
If you have sincerely put your trust in Jesus to be your Savior, welcome to the household of God!
