Called to holiness

For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit. – 1 Thessalonians 4.7-8

There is no doubt that our lives must be different. While we live in a world of uncleanness that is not what we are called to do or how we are supposed to live. Holiness is not the standard in the world.

In addition the standard is high. Jesus said ‘you be holy as I am holy.’

Of course holiness on our own is impossible. We are sinners and sin and holiness are incompatible. They are mutually exclusive. You can’t have one and the others.

The only solution here is salvation. When we are saved we are declared covered by the holiness of Christ. It is not of our own. One day we can see God’s perfect holiness us when we get to heaven.

It’s the ‘in the meantime’ that we must deal with.

In the meantime we are to strive for practical holiness. That means that means that we must choose to avoid uncleanness and replace it with holy living. `I have to make holy choices in my everyday life.

These don’t have to be big choices. Will I read this book or watch this film or will I let my anger control me or allow myself to dwell on evil thought or will I wallow in doubt and fear. By the grace of God I can make the holy choice and depend on the power of Christ in me to allow me to follow through.

We must pursue holiness today in all we do, all of our choices and actions and attitudes and how we treat others and how we deal with our fears and our temptations. Follow holiness.