My Blog

 Holiness
What It Means to Me
 According to Merriam Webster Dictionary (online) the definition of the word “holy” is as follows: Exalted, worthy of complete devotion, perfect in goodness and righteousness, divine, devoted entirely to the deity or the work of the deity, having a divine quality (ie@divine love), venerated.   So, looking at this definition, the word “holy” means to be a god, someone who is divine, who has authority, is deserving of being venerated. For the Christian, this deity is the one and only True and Living God of the Universe, the Creator God, I Am:   Father God who is not just a loving Father, but is Love Himself. When you become truly saved, He grants you His mercy, grace, and forgiveness. Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, both fully God and fully man, the One and only Son of God, who died on the cross to save all humanity from sin.   The Great Helper, the Holy Spirit, who resides within you to guide you and convict you, upon your salvation.  The Three are One and the One is Three. When you become saved, you discern this to be true. Holiness, which is derived from the word, holy, according to Merriam Webster Dictionary (online) states that holiness is the quality or state of being holy; sanctification. So, what does sanctification mean? The state of being sanctified; the state of growing in divine grace as a result of Christian commitment after baptism or conversion. First off, we learn here that sanctification; or holiness; only ever applies to Christians, and not to people of other belief systems. To become sanctified, one must grow in Divine Grace, as a result of our commitment to God after our conversion. This term, commitment, is an extremely important word to remember when discussing what True holiness really is. Upon becoming “born again” as a True believer, our whole purpose for living shifts from one extreme to another.   Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you; it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”         Matthew 19:23-26
 Instead of flowing along through the river of life, in essence, we begin to swim upstream, against the current of the river. Many people begin to think of us as foolish, crazy, etc, because they do not understand why we suddenly shift in the opposite direction, which everyone knows means a struggle that they think we cannot win. Truthfully, without God, this struggle would be an impossibility. But with God, all things are possible. Before we go any further into what it means to achieve holiness, I think it is important to discuss what gives us the right and the opportunity to reach that state to begin with. It begins with salvation.   The Merriam Webster Dictionary (online) says that salvation is deliverance from the power and effects of sin; the agent or means that effects salvation; the realization of the supremacy of infinite Mind over all bringing with it the destruction of the illusion of sin, sickness, and death; liberation from ignorance or illusion; preservation from destruction or failure; deliverance from danger or difficulty. This word, salvation, is quite powerful and encompasses quite a lot. I think we need to break this down a bit. Salvation is deliverance from the power and effects of sin – First off, salvation is never earned. It is a free gift that came at great cost to Jesus Christ. Although we do not deserve forgiveness, and we could never pay the cost for our sins, yet God came into the world in the flesh, as the Son, Jesus Christ. He humbled Himself by being born in the poorest of conditions one could be born into during that period of time, as a baby laid in the feeding trough of goats and sheep. This basically would equate to todays standards of being completely homeless with nowhere to go. He suffered ridicule, persecution, imprisonment, being beaten so badly that His very flesh was ripped apart, made to carry a tree up a steep hill in this emaciated condition, and then having nails driven into His hands and His feet as He was nailed to that tree. After He died, His body was yet again desecrated as a spear was driven into His side, just to make sure He was dead. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.     John 3:16-18 Yet, this was not the end. This is where so much of humanity fails to recognize that this was just the beginning. Why? Because so many people have lost sight of the spiritual side of life. In that exact moment that Jesus physically died on the cross, gave up the spirit of life from this physical realm we call earth, He experienced a separation between Himself and God, the Father. It was the only time in His entire existence that He had ever been separated from the Father. At that moment of death, Jesus felt the weight of all the sins of the world fall upon His shoulders. He did not just take my sin. He did not just take your sin. He did not just take the sins of this generation of people. He took the sins of all humanity from Adam and Eve through the very last man, upon His shoulders. What a heavy burden to carry. I cannot even begin to imagine the torture He must have endured in that moment of time. I do not think we can even comprehend it. Yet, this sacrifice which came at great cost to Jesus gives us deliverance from the power and effects of sin, if we will but accept it. Jesus Christ is the agent that effects salvation.   The means that effects salvation: To achieve salvation requires three things. As stated previously, we cannot “earn” salvation. Salvation is a free gift, the cost already paid by Jesus Christ Himself upon that cross. He purchased our salvation for us. The only catch…you must accept it. To accept this free gift of salvation, you must have a change of mind, heart, and spirit. These three things are completed simultaneously, all at the same time. As difficult as it may be to understand, this is not something you do as a work or activity, or in effect you would earn it. As stated previously, you cannot earn salvation. It is a natural change that comes over you when you finally accept Jesus’ call into your heart, mind, and spirit, for you to follow Him, for He calls us by name. When this acceptance of faith is made from the heart, you may very likely experience great emotion as the Holy Spirit enters inside of you and you are filled with Gods love. First, your mind…the condition of your mind matters. Where before you did not believe in God, your mind has now changed and you believe that God does exist. If your salvation is true and real, you will now not only believe in God’s existence, but you will love Him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and you will acknowledge His one and only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. You will understand now that you need a Savior and cannot live on your own without Him. You will now discern that Jesus indeed paid a huge price for your sins, and you will be filled with remorse, gratitude, and great love for Him. At this point, you will understand and discern that God’s commandments are there as a guide to teach us to live in His holy kingdom, and that we were only put on this earth temporarily. Earth is our training ground. Earth is our testing center. Earth is where we learn to be shepherds preparing His flock to enter into His kingdom, finding as many lost sheep as we can along the way. Next is the condition of your heart. You will now acknowledge your sinfulness, need for a Savior, and you will give heartfelt repentance for all of your sins. You admit that you can no longer continue on in your life all on your own. This means heartfelt repentance, you feel it deep inside of you. It is not just saying “I’m sorry.” but not really meaning it. When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s annointed stands here before the Lord.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”              1 Samuel 16:6-7 God knows the heart and what is in it.  He will recognize if your repentance is heartfelt or not. If you are truly repentant, and acknowledge Jesus as your Lord and Savior, God will grant His mercy and forgiveness, and the sacrifice Jesus made for you will become activated. The third change that occurs, is when The Holy Spirit will come upon you and indwell in your Spirit. This is called the second baptism, and is received in that moment when you first become saved. (On a side note, please note, the Holy Spirit is NOT an it. The Holy Spirit is God, the third member of the Holy Trinity, and is therefore also referred to as Him, or He.) Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” Jesus replied, “Very truly if I tell you, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless they are born again.” “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”          John 3:1-8 The Holy Spirit is the Helper that Jesus promised to us, so that we no longer require animal sacrifices or priests to intervene for us. At this point we are reconciled to God and are given direct access to Him.   This change in our lives is not “magical.” We are still the same person, in character, that we were before, and oftentimes we will still suffer from the same weaknesses, but our new mindset and outlook on life will reflect the change in us. Our desire to please God becomes strong and we begin to work hard to achieve a state of holiness.  Sometimes these changes will cause division between us and our families, our friends, our neighbors, our bosses, and others we encounter in our daily lives. Jesus did not promise that if we follow Him we will lead a trouble-free life on this earth. Quite the contrary, He promised us the exact opposite…hence the struggle upstream in the river of life. It is these very struggles that form us and shape us into the mold He wants for us to become. When you face these struggles, it is best to ask God, “What is the lesson you have for me in this event?” and accept that God will show you what He wants you to learn from it in His time. Sometimes, we may not know the answer until years later, but He will always give us an answer, even if it is an answer we don’t really want to hear. We need to keep our ears and our eyes open, however, so we do not miss the answer. Our focus changes because our eyes become open. We no longer see our life as finite, living just for this journey we call life on this earth. We now see things from an eternal perspective, and realize that what happens in this lifetime on earth is but a speck in our eternal life. Commitment becomes extremely important now, because the struggles you endure from this point forward will become monumental, without the help of God. A study I am currently involved in teaches that we live between our ears. Our mind is a powerful weapon that can be used for good or for evil. Every action is preceded by a thought.   Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewingof your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.
 Romans 12:1-2 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thoughtto make it obedient to Christ.          2 Corinthians 10:5 It is extremely important, therefore, to not fill your mind with the evil corrupt things of this world. Instead, fill your mind with heavenly things that only promote God’s message and build His kingdom up. When we are saved, we are no longer subject to sin, sickness, or death, because our eyes have been opened and we now discern that these are simply attacks from the enemy. As children of God, we need no longer fear the enemy, because we are under God’s protection now. Jesus promised that all those who receive Him and live according to His commandments, will live in His kingdom for all of eternity. Jesus became victorious over death when He died on the cross and rose again on the third day. ‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”             Revelations 21:4  Having attained salvation, we no longer live in ignorance. We are given discernment to understand and apply God’s Word to our lives. We no longer live under the deception of the enemy for we recognize evil and deceit now. We are saved from destruction (upon our salvation, we receive the gift of eternal life.) We live free from failure (Jesus gives us victory over death and destruction.) We no longer fear danger (Jesus will always be there to help us through our trials and tribulations, and He gives us freedom from fear.) As long as we keep our eyes upon Jesus, our difficulties will no longer distract us or become a burden to us.    But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.            Matthew 6:33-34 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest, in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”         Matthew 11:28-30 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
                 2 Timothy 1:7 Now that we understand what salvation is, we can proceed with what it means to achieve a state of holiness/sanctification. When we become born again, holiness/sanctification becomes our new goal in life, as we make a commitment to God and His work, as we diligently seek Him through prayer, fasting, meditation on His Holy Word called Truth, fellowship with other True believers, praise Him, and through acts of love when we humbly serve others and spread His gospel throughout the world…all of these things encompass the single action verb named worship. Worship helps us to achieve a state of holiness. It is, however, still so much more than this, and it is the intentions of your heart that matters.   God does not want us to just see Him as our Lord and Savior, our King, our Authority Figure – it goes much deeper than that. He wants a personal relationship with us. Jesus tells us that He is our father, our brother, our mother, our sister, our friend. He calls the church His bride. These are very personal and intimate relationships.   God created us to worship Him, and to complete His great commission, to spread His gospel throughout the earth. God created us to love us. He knew us before the foundations of the earth were laid. He determined how many hairs you would have upon your head, what limbs you would have, and He knew what choices you would make in your life. All of these things can be found in God’s scripture, spoken many many centuries ago, long before any of us, who are here today, were born.   It is extremely important to understand that God lives outside of time and space. He is past, present, and future, He is omniscient and omnipotent. When He created us, He gave us free will to choose our eternal future, but He knew long before we chose it, what choices we would make. He did not predestine our choices for us, He simply knew before we made our choices, because Heis the future. He knew what our choices would be, long before we made our choices, because He is the past. He knew what choices we would make when we made them, because He is the present. This is a difficult concept, but yet when you look at it in this way, it really is not that difficult to comprehend.   Everything; every thought, every action, every word that proceeds from your mouth should be thoughtfully and lovingly said and/or done in God’s name; not in the flesh and not in sin. You need to watch what you “feed” your mind, because, as stated above, we live between our ears. What you put in is what is going to be put out in deed and action. To achieve holiness is to put all these worldly things aside and fill your mind, heart, and spirit with things of God. Remember again the scripture verse above, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.” We make our own choices, because He did not want robots to serve Him. He wanted a personal, loving relationship with us, as a friend and family member. So, how do you achieve this personal relationship? Well, to get to know someone better, you spend time with them. Read the scriptures, spend time in prayer with Him and meditate on His Word day and night. Spend time fasting and praising Him with songs of faith. Spend time in fellowship with other believers. Attend church services and small study groups within your church. Serve others in humility and love within the community…these are all acts of worship. And most importantly, converse with God, just like you do with your friends and family members, and be sure to listen too, so you can hear Him when He speaks to you. As long as we live in the flesh, we will never attain perfect holiness or sanctification, but it is never too late to start working on it. Our journey in this life is a training ground that allows us to put into practice how we will live in God’s kingdom where we can have a perfect loving personal relationship with God, and our sanctification will be complete.   Until then, be sure to seek God while you can.  Once your life on this earth is over, your opportunity will pass you by. We are not promised tomorrow. God does not tell us that if you reject Him, you receive a “get out of jail free” card, and just simply no longer exist. Whether you accept Him or not, you are going somewhere for all of eternity. Do you want to spend your eternity in His kingdom, free from sin and suffering? Or will you spend your eternity in that burning lake of fire?  “Seek the Lord while He may be found;
call on Him while He is near:
Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy
on them,
and to our God, for He will freelypardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread
for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.   Isaiah 55:6-11