Holiness: The Heart God Purifies
By Nancy Leigh
DeMoss
Chapter 2 – The Motivation for Holiness
It’s so hard to have
to “be holy” all the time! Why can’t I
just relax and take it easy sometimes?
Yes, I understand that holiness isn’t about sheer human effort and
self-striving. I know it’s about
depending on God’s enabling grace and letting Jesus live His holy life in and
through us. But be honest—don’t you find
that it often seems a lot easier to go with the flow of your natural, fleshly
desires than to deny your flesh and choose the pathway of holiness? So why swim upstream against the current of your
flesh and the culture?
Yes, at
times it is “easier” to allow my flesh to win and just go with the flow instead
of actively seeking out holiness. I know
I fail at living a holy life more often than I would like but because I am a
child of God it is my heart’s desire to be holy… I want to live a holy life, I
don’t want anything to come between me and my relationship with God. This is the battle I face on a daily
basis. Am I going to fight to know God
and live a Holy life or am I going to give up and let the flesh take over? I pray that I never give up seeking after God
and choosing Him over my own flesh.
In this chapter I
want to explore seven powerful biblical motivations for holy living:
1) Because God is Holy
As a photograph is
an image of an object, so our lives are intended to portray the image of
God. People are supposed to be able to
look at Christians and see what God is like.
But just as he who
called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy,
because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16)
Lord, may
my life reflect who You are to others. I want to live a Holy life because You
lived a Holy life… You are Holy and I am a living example of You to those
around me. Lord, I know that I am not
perfect and that I will fail. Forgive me
when I do but help me to get back up and keep trying to be a reflection of
You. In order to reflect You to others,
I need to know who You are… I need to spend time with You… I need to see how
You loved others and I need to love others in the same way.
In our everyday life
and conduct, we are to reflect what God is like and what it means to belong to
Him and to be His redeemed, “set apart” people.
Our lives are to make God believable to our world. As they see His image in us, they will be
moved to worship and glorify Him.
What does your life
reflect to those around you? Do your
attitudes, words, and behavior give others an accurate picture of God? Or do you sometimes profane His
holiness—perhaps by a complaining or controlling spirit, by participating in coarse
conversation, or laughing at off-color humor?
It saddens me to think of how often I have given others a distorted
perception of God through my ungodlike choices and responses.
No, I do
not give an accurate picture of God… I am not perfect as He is… I do fail to
reach His standard of Holiness… but I am striving to live a Holy life. I pray that my attempt to be Holy will urge
others to worship and glorify Him. That
they will see Him through me even though it is a marred version of
perfection. I am a reflection of what it
means to belong to Him… I am loved even though I am not perfect… I am forgiven
even though I don’t deserve it… I am “set apart” and made Holy even though it
is not because I have earned it. Even
with all of my imperfections, God still loves me… He sent His son to die for
me… He lifts me up when I fall down, He gives me strength when I am weak, He
encourages me when I am discouraged, He gives me hope when I feel hopeless, He
walks beside me when I need a friend… He is molding me into His image and
making me pure. He is taking my
complaining and controlling spirit and chipping away at it so that I can better
reflect Him to others… and for that I am forever grateful.
2) Because Holiness is God’s stated goal for
every believer
God’s goal in saving
you was not just to make your few years on planet Earth easier or more
enjoyable. He had an eternal end in
view. His intent was to make you holy,
as He is holy, that you might bring Him pleasure, and that you might enjoy
intimate fellowship with Him for all eternity.
How often
do we have this eternal view in mind? It
is so easy to lose our focus and think of salvation as our ticket out of hell…
but it is so much more than that.
Salvation is about God drawing us into His presence, changing us from a
broken, sinful creation into a holy and pure one… Salvation is the only way in
which we can bring pleasure to God and enjoy intimate fellowship with Him for
all eternity… starting the day we are saved.
We are
taught at a young age that we are to have goals in life… goals that we should
be striving to reach. As I got older, I
was taught that I should have SMART goals… goals that are Specific, Measurable,
Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Many
of us will choose new “goals” every year that we like to call New Year
Resolutions… but often not keep them. As
a special education teacher, writing goals has become second nature… learning
where the student is and what the next step is and then writing a goal to get
them there is half of my job.
It is easy
to think of Holiness as another “goal”.
What steps can I take to become Holy?
Do I need to read my Bible more?
Spend more time in prayer? Stop
doing a specific sin? But Holiness is
not just another goal… it should be my life purpose… I should be striving to
live a Holy life so that I can please God… and be in relationship with Him. Every
moment I should be focused on what God is asking of me… and how I can obey Him…
that is the essence of living a Holy life… if I am obeying God than I will be
Holy..!
Do you share His
goal for your life? What are you living
for? From the time you put your feet on
the floor in the morning till you pillow your head at night, are you
consciously cooperating with Him and pursuing His eternal purposes to make you holy?
Living a
Holy life shouldn’t be a “chore” it should be our desire… like a bride
preparing for her wedding. She does it
with joy and anticipation. The joy of
being married to the groom is what motivates her… my joy in being in
relationship with God should be what motivates me to live a Holy life.
Lately, I
don’t feel like I have been living my life with the right purpose. I have been distracted and focused on the
here and now. I don’t know exactly when
I lost my focus, but I do know that I want to get back to where I was
before. I want the joy I once had… I
want to live with an eternal view of things and not so focused on the here and
now… day to day things. Lord, throughout
the day… from when I wake up until I go to bed… may I seek You and Your glory… may
I focus on things that bring You glory and what You are asking of me. May I live to draw others into relationship
with You… and may my life draw them to You because of how much I love You and
how much I love them.
3) Because Jesus died to deliver us from sin
Jesus died
when we still sinners… we were still His enemy.
We didn’t just sin, but we enjoyed the sin… loved it to some degree… to
some extent even as believers we still do.
We need to allow Him to be at work in our lives to take away this desire
from sin from within us. As we draw
close to Him, and look upon the cross and all that He suffered on our behalf…
only then will we start to hate sin… including the sins that we have been
indulging in.
When we tolerate our
sin and refuse to be parted from it, we spurn the love and the grace of Christ;
we trample His cross and count His sacrificial death of no value. Jesus didn’t
shed His blood so you and I could have a passport to happiness and heaven,
while continuing to indulge our lust, anger, and jealousy; our addictions and
critical, competitive spirits; our selfishness and pride. His death provides the motivation and the
power to say no to sin and yes to holiness in every area of our lives. Jesus died
to make us holy, to deliver us from sin.
How, then, can we carelessly or casually continue to sin against such a
Savior?
Wow, so
often I don’t even think about my sins and how it affects Jesus… or even my
relationship with Him. I have been
living my life for myself recently paying no attention to the affect sin has on
my own life, my relationship with Jesus, the lives of those I love… I have been
trampling the cross and allowing my heart to be hardened. It was something that happened one small step
at a time… but I don’t have to continue where I am… that is the beauty of the
cross and what Jesus did when He died for my sins… while I may have been living
for the here and now… not focused on the eternal… I can change my ways and
allow Jesus to give me the motivation I once had to not sin.
I am
reminded of the church of Ephesus in Revelations 2:3-5a “You have persevered
and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have
forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen!
Repent and do the things you did at first.”
I feel as
if I am somewhat like this church… I have been persevering against the
hardships… barely holding on… but I have forsaken my first love. I have lost my joy in Christ. I am fighting to get it back. How do I get it back? By doing the things I did at first. I am spending time in the Word again… even if
I get distracted… I am fighting back and finding time to be with Jesus. This is my desire… to be so in love with
Jesus that I desire holiness more than any sin the world has to offer.
4) Because we are Saints
Ironically, many of
the people whom Paul was writing were acting like anything but saints. They were guilty of many of the same sins we
find among believers today—divisiveness, bitterness, immorality, selfishness, a
love affair with the world. So why did
Paul call these early believers “saints”? Because that’s what they were! Their sinful hearts had been washed by the
blood of Jesus.
Whether I
am choosing to live like a saint or not… because I have been washed by the
blood of Jesus, I am a saint… therefore, I need to start living out who I
am. So often we fall into the lies of
the world and the evil one and let him convince us that we are not saints… we
become complacent in our sins, I need to live a Holy life because I am a saint…
purified by the blood of Jesus. I am no
longer a sinner… it is no longer my nature.
I have been set free from the sins of my past… why do I still let them
hold me captive?
Are you a
saint? If you are a child of God, the
answer is yes. You have been chosen and
set apart as one of His holy people. Are
you living like a saint? If you are
truly a child of God, the answer will be, Yes—not perfectly, but that is my
heart’s desire, and by His grace, I am actively pursuing holiness and growing
to be more like the One who has saved me.
Yes, I am
a saint… I am not doing it perfectly, but I can say that it is my hearts desire
to live a holy life. I want to be more like Jesus… even when I fail Him over
and over again. My heart’s desire is to
still get back up and start over because He has given me a new heart. If that were not the case… I would have given
up a long time ago.
5) Because our intimacy with God depends on it
Unholy people cannot
fellowship with a Holy God. I cannot
cling to my impatience, gluttony, slothfulness, and moodiness, and have
fellowship with God at the same time.
“Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? the prophet asked. “He
who walks righteously” (Isaiah 33:14-15).
Intimacy with God is reserved for those who are holy.
Just as our
relationship with others is strained when we hurt them or sin against them or
lie to them, our relationship with God is strained when we live in sin. If I want to have intimacy with God, then I
need to walk in holiness… I cannot cling to my sins. Do I need to be perfect? No, I need to be humble. I need to confess my sins. I need to turn from them and walk in
righteousness. Every time I fail God’s
holy standard, I need to humble myself and confess again. I cannot be choosing to walk in Holiness and
choosing to walk in sin at the same time.
It doesn’t work. I cannot walk
closely with God and be living in sin at the same time. It doesn’t work. The times I didn’t feel
close to God had more to do with how I was living then God. He is always there with open arms willing to
receive His children.
6) Because we are going to live eternally in a
Holy City
The fact is, you and
I will soon be moving to our eternal home.
How much thought have you given to your ultimate destination and to what
you need to do to get ready for the move?
Heaven is a place of indescribable joy and beauty, a place where there
will be no sickness or sadness or sorrow.
That is because there will be no sin in heaven. How then can we hold on to our sin and think
we are ready to go to heaven?
I have
thought about heaven before… and how it will be a place of joy and beauty, a
place where there is no sickness, sadness, sorrow. I have thought about how there will be no sin
in heaven… I have thought about how we are being made righteous… but more in
regards to prepare us for God… never in regards to prepare us for the Holy
city… this was an interesting concept to me.
Lord, help me to let go of my sins, so that I am ready for your Holy
city… may I have nothing that hinders me from enjoying what You have prepared
for me.
7) Because the well-being of others depends on
it
The greatest need of
your mate, your children, your friends, and fellow workers, is not your
friendship or your acts of service; it is not your abilities or your financial
provision; their greatest need is not even your verbal witness of your
faith. What they most need is to see in
you a reflection of what God is like and of the transforming power of the
Gospel. Your life can create hunger and
thirst for God in others’ lives and can be a powerful instrument in the hand of
the Holy Spirit to draw their hearts to Christ.
I don’t
think I have ever realized how MY holiness is something that others need from
me… let alone their greatest need from me… wow!
If you think about the concept of Holiness and what happens when God
transforms your life, I can see this truth… our words only have so much power/witness…
what we say doesn’t matter nearly as much as how we live our life out before
others. Do I really believe what I am
preaching? If I say that there is a God
that loves them… Am I displaying it by how I love them? Am I displaying it by how I feel loved by
God? Holiness is a magnet… it does not
push others away because it isn’t judgmental… When we are being conformed into
the image of Christ… we are living in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Who wouldn’t want to be around someone like
that? Someone who is also very humble…
who serves others… Living out your holiness before others can leave a lasting
impact on their life whether you see the fruit of it or not.
On the other hand,
your life can cause irreparable damage to others. Adam could not have fathomed how the effects
of his sinful choice would reverberate through all of human history; “Many died
through one man’s trespass” (Romans 5:15).
So you cannot calculate all the lives that may be turned astray and
devastated through what you might consider inconsequential acts of
disobedience. By contrast to Adam’s
disobedience, the obedience of the Lord Jesus to the will of His Father brought
untold blessing to the human race: “Through one Man’s righteous act the free
gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life (Romans 15:8b).
What a
hard concept to think upon… how the choices we make can often have irreparable
damage to others. I went through years
of self-reflection on this and beating myself up trying to figure out what I
could have done differently… if it was something I did that made things turn
out the way they did… and while I think to some extent, my actions may have
played a part in the overall outcome of things… I did not cause them.
No, I am
not perfect… No, I didn’t do everything perfectly… but I cannot live in guilt
over things any longer. God does not ask
that of us. His response to our sin, and
the consequences to our sin was to send Jesus...! So, my prayer is that God would bring about
HIS healing upon the situation. Healing
that only He can bring. I know that even
then, I was seeking Him and His guidance in everything… I was crying out to Him
constantly… I need to come back to a place where I am completely dependent on
Him, crying out to Him daily… and praying for His mighty hand to be at work.
Jesus said… “For
their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth” (John
17:19). This verse has often been a
source of motivation and challenge to me as I have wrestled with issues of
obedience. When I am tempted to secretly
indulge my flesh with excessive food or sleep or by watching a video that condones
immorality, to be slack in my work, to be harsh with my words, or to yield to
self-centered emotions, it helps me to stop and think about the impact of my
life on those who look to me as an example.
It’s bad enough for me to make choices that hurt my own relationship
with God. How much more serious is it to
be the cause of someone else deciding to sin?
Lord, help
me to realize that people are watching me… help me to choose things that
glorify You so that it would be an example to them. Give me the motivation and encouragement to
choose the right thing even when no one is watching me because I don’t want
anything to affect my relationship with God.
Lord, I don’t want to be the cause of someone turning away from you or
sinning. Forgive me if I have caused it
in the past and help me to be careful not to be the cause in the future. I know that ultimately, the choices they make
are their own, but I don’t want to lead them down a path that is away from You
or what You desire for their life.
Parents seldom
realize until it’s too late how determinative their example is in the lives of
their children. They know what your
moral standards are—not what you’ve told them your standards are, but what they
really are. How? Because they know what kind of videos you
rent and what you laugh at on TV and the kinds of books and magazines you bring
into your home. If those kids grow up
loving the world and having no hunger for spiritual things, will that be any
great surprise? And will you be prepared
to give an account for the way your life influenced their choices?
Lord, You
know how I lived before Shane. Perfect,
no… but I tried to live out my faith before him in a way that would glorify You. I spent daily time in the Word… I answered
his questions whenever he had them. I spent
years trying to figure out what I could have done differently… what decision
could we have made to turn things around… but living in the past does no
good. It kept me in a prison of pain and
bitterness… guilt and pain. Now, he may
not be around for me to influence but I still need to live my life in the same
way… as if I was leaving behind an example for others to follow. Will I do it perfectly? No, but that is where Your grace comes in and
covers me.
Do you love your sin
so much that you are unwilling to relinquish it for the sake of others?
I pray
that this is not true. Lord, if there is
a sin in my life that I need to give up. Please open my eyes to that sin and
remove it from me so I can live the way that You created me to live.
Why care about being
holy? Why be willing to say no to your
flesh and yes to God, day in and day out?
Because the world desperately needs to see what God is like.
Lord, I am
a marred example of what You are like… help me to be Holy so they may see You
reflected in me… even if it is an imperfect version of You. May that be my
desire each and every day.
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