#174: Pursue Holiness

 

Pursue holiness, without which, no one will see the LORD. Hebrews 12:14

Dear brothers and sisters, I found it necessary to write a follow-up to a previous post on this blog (gutsy guilt) because like I mentioned in that particular post, in scriptures, God is portrayed as eternally just in punishing all evil, but at the same time, He is eternally loving and ready to always forgive and be merciful to us when we err. These two extremes of what I call the God spectrum can be found everywhere in the bible, for example in Exodus 34, when God was introducing himself to Moses, this is what He said:

And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation." Exodus 34:6-7

The previous post was laying emphasis on God's love; however, it is very necessary to know this in view of His holiness and justice, or else we will feel too comfortable making a habit of sin to exploit God's eternal love and mercy that forgives. If God visits the iniquity of the fathers up to the fourth generation, then we must take it as serious and receive grace to pursue holiness and perfection. Knowing the availability of the abundance of grace where sin abounds, Paul admonishes us not to continue in sin:

Moreover, the law entered that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so, grace might reign through righteousness in eternal life through Jesus Christ our LORD.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Romans 5:20 - 6:2

Holiness (perfection) is actually a command from God to us believers - to imitate Him.

Speak to the congregation of the children of Israel and say to them: "You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy" Lev 19:2

So, as a believer, holiness is something to pursue. In fact, in view of all these scriptures, a believer who is not pursuing holiness should question his salvation, or as Peter would put it:

Therefore brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure. II Pet  1:10

A pursuit of holiness is therefore a confirmation of our stand in Christ.

However, in our pursuit of holiness, we are not the decisive players, but God is doing this in us through His Spirit daily in what is called sanctification:

...for I am the LORD who makes you holy. Leviticus 20:8

...God chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. II Thes 2:13

being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun this good work in you will complete it until the day of our LORD Jesus. Phil 1:6

...but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. Romans 8:13&14

So, we know that we are sons of God if we are led by His Spirit; and this spirit will actively be warring with sin within and putting to death the deeds of the body and growing in holiness. This is how God keeps us saved.

Final thoughts: It is true that if we sin, we can always confess them to God and be sure that He will always forgive and pardon and cleanse us. However, those who are in Christ Jesus do not make a habit of sinning (to exploit God's grace and mercy). As believers, God's Spirit within us can never make peace with sin, but will constantly wage war against it. By this, we know if we are children of God.