Saturday, April 07, 2012

Saturday Scripture Speaks

Colossians 3:12 says:
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

I am a big believer in holiness - as God describes it in the Bible. Those who criticize the holiness churches tend to accuse them of striving to buy their way into Heaven. Sorry if you are one of those who have done that. You need to know that holy living simply means understanding that you are saved by grace and by nothing else. Because you are saved by grace (unmerited free gift of God), you do your utmost to live to please Him. That means you get as far away from sin as you can. You don't continue to struggle with the same sin over, and over, and over again. You give it to God and let it go. Then you run so far away from it that you never revisit it again.

As we continue to separate ourselves from the ways of the world, we find that we become more like Christ (holy). Jesus was and is HOLY. It means He is and always has been sinless. He always will be. His death and resurrection washes us clean and makes us HOLY in God's eyes. That is motive enough for any genuine Christian to strive to live as sinless a life as he can.

If you're unsure of whether something is a sin or not, just look up the Ten Commandments In Exodus chapter 20 (right at the beginning of the chapter). All of the world's sins are summed up within them.

Charles Spurgeon, in his sermon, Without Money and Without Price said it so beautifully:

"Next it inspires with gratitude, and that becomes the basis of holiness. They say that a free gospel will make men think lightly of sin. It is the death of sin, it is the life of virtue, it is the motive power of holiness, and when it comes into the soul it begets zeal for the Lord."


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