For that past month and a half, the worship and music ministry here at Central has been reading “Holiness, the Heart God Purifies” by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. (I strongly recommend this book for any believer!)
One might ask the question, “ Wouldn’t it make more sense for the worship ministry to read a book about worship? “ The reality though, is that living a life of worship cannot be separated from living a holy life. You can’t just be a worshiper, and you can’t just be holy. One’s pursuit of holiness, their obedience in allowing the Holy Spirit to work in and change them, is an essential part of their life of worship. It is by living holy lives that we live lives of worship. In Scripture it is clear that sin is serious and that believers are called to be holy:
But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:15-16
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. 1 John 3:1-3
While this is not an easy task, it is a possible one as the Holy Spirit continues to sanctify us, making us more like Christ as we walk with Him.
Why is it that people have such a negative view of holiness when it is how we are to live as believers? Much of the time people would rather take the easy road because to put it simply, holiness is hard. Total focus and dependence on Christ is the only way to live a holy life. If we know we cannot save ourselves and that Christ is our salvation, then we must also know that we cannot possibly live a holy life without dependence on God. We can’t do it on our own, yet we still have to be obedient in following wholeheartedly after Christ. When one is focused on Christ holiness is not over burdensome because our true desire and ambition is to please the Savior. That is living a life of worship.
God is calling his children to live lives of holiness, let’s not make excuses for ourselves. Listed below are 7 key motivations for holiness take from chapter 2 of DeMoss’s book.
We are to be holy because:
1. God is holy
2. Holiness is God’s stated goal for every believer
3. We are saints (so act like it)
4. Our intimacy with God depends on it
5. Jesus died to deliver us from sin
6. We are going to live eternally in a holy city
7. The well-being of others depends on it
I am constantly amazed by God’s faithfulness. While I often mess up, He continues to use me. Aren’t you thankful that as believers we do not have to strive for holiness on our own. We don’t have to meet a standard ourselves. Christ has already met it for us and through the Holy Spirit the Lord will continue to work in us!
..being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6
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