TITLE: Be Ye Holy By DeWayne Bricker 08/26/06 |
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Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Sweetest name I know, Fills my every longing, Keeps me singing as I go.
Isn’t that an awesome song? It is very catchy. It sticks in your mind all day long. You just sing it over and over and over and over.
Oh, sorry, I got carried away.
We sing a lot of great songs about Jesus don’t we? We go to church and sing, sing, sing about His wonderful grace and love and presence, and on and on and on. Then, we go home and live like we have no idea who He is or what He wants us to do.
Oh, I’m sorry, did I say something wrong? Did I hurt your feelings? Did I make you mad? We’ll if it isn’t true, stop reading this because it’s not for you. It’s for the rest of us that fall on our faces every day. The fact is you and I are miserable examples of what a Christian truly is. I know, because even though I try to be as good as I can be, I still fail over and over and over again. I’m sorry I repeat things so many times, but God did it in the Bible so I figure it must be a good idea.
You might be thinking, what is this nut talking about? We’ll I am talking a about this:
Ro 7:15 For I don`t know what I am doing. For I don`t practice what I desire to do; but what I hate, that I do.
Ro 7:16 But if what I don`t desire, that I do, I consent to the law that it is good
Ro 7:17 So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.
Ro 7:18 For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don`t find it doing that which is good.
Ro 7:19 For the good which I desire, I don`t do; but the evil which I don`t desire, that I practice.
Ro 7:20 But if what I don`t desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.
Ro 7:21 I find then the law, that, to me, while I desire to do good, evil is present.
Ro 7:22 For I delight in God`s law after the inward man,
Ro 7:23 but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.
Ro 7:24 What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death?
Wow, if Paul felt like this, how do you think we should feel? Think about his life and all he did and suffered for the name of Jesus Christ. The churches he started and sustained the people of many nations he showed the way to salvation.
What have you done? (silence, silence, silence, silence) Okay, that’s enough. I did not say that to hurt you but to have you stop and evaluate your life in Jesus. I am doing the same. What have I done or better yet, what am I doing? It’s the present that counts not the victories of the past. Yes, they are important, but they are gone and now is what God is wanting for you and for me.
My daily devotional is Oswald Chambers (My Utmost for His Highest). What a man of God? Each daily thought puts me to shame. How can a man live like this man did? His weakest thought process blows my highest thought process away. If I live the way he writes, me and God would be like to peas in a pod. How can I be holy? Better yet, can I be holy? Well, let’s look at Gods word for the answer.
Le 11:45 For I am Yahweh who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: you shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
God said it, I didn’t. You might say, “He was talking to His chosen people not us.”
Well. . .
2ti 3:16 Every scripture inspired by God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness,
2ti 3:17 that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely to every good work.
Okay, so all scripture is for all our benefits. Got it? Okay, let’s move on. How can we be Holy? What does that mean? Is it even possible?
Jesus said the following:
Mt 19:26 Looking at them, Jesus said, "With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible."
What is all this saying? Simply this: On our own, we can’t possibly be what God wants and instructs us to become, but through and by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit that has lived in us since the day we were saved to eternal life, we can move toward that holiness.
Now, back to my original thought about what Paul was saying. Why do I do what I don’t want to do and why do I don’t do that which I know I should do? What a mouthful.
The simple answer is this. We are flesh, pure and simple. Even though our minds have been transformed, (or have they) our bodies are still made of the same rotten flesh they were before we were saved. It’s when we are able to get our bodies in line with our hearts, mind and spirit that we really move toward that perfection or holiness that God is talking about.
Paul went on to say the following:
1co 9:27 but I beat my body and bring it into submission, for fear that by any means, that after I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.
The flesh is satan’s path to get to us. Yes, I know I did not capitalize satan, but I choose not too. Anyway, back to what we were talking about.
It is through the flesh, our lust and desires that we fail at being holy.
Jas 1:14 But each one is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.
But, it’s through the mind that all this lust stuff gets started. We must first transform the mind if we are going to align the body.
Ro 12:2 Don`t be fashioned according to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
The renewing of your mind.....
How? Stop putting in junk and fill your mind with the Word of God, with the company of God’s people and with constant prayer. Do this and everything will line up. It’s that simple. The hard part is you have to make a choice to do it.
So, what are you going to do?
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