Why Holiness???     A Word from THE WORD!!! #72

Just a few thoughts this morning to help us examine our hearts and lives.  Jesus said our heart is the source of our behavior.

“But those things which proceed out of the mouth

come forth from the heart;

and they defile the man.

19 For out of the heart

proceed evil thoughts,

murders,

adulteries,

fornications,

thefts,

false witness,

blasphemies:” Matthew 15:18-19

The Psalmist has great advice in this regard.

“Set a watch, O LORD,

before my mouth;

keep the door

of my lips.

4 Incline not my heart

to any evil thing…”. Psalm 141:3-4a

We are called by God to live “holy” lives, so we must keep a diligent watch over our heart, our mind, and our mouth, to preserve our testimony before the world.

“Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind,

be sober,

and hope to the end

for the grace that is to be brought unto you

at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

14 As obedient children,

not fashioning yourselves

according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

15 But as he which hath called you is holy,

so be ye holy

in all manner of conversation;

16 Because it is written,

Be ye holy;

for I am holy.”  1 Peter 1:13-16

We are to pursue holiness as a lover of, and follower of Jesus!  Yet we can only do it because God has laid our sin on Jesus and imparted to us the “righteousness of God”!

“17 Therefore if any man be in Christ,

he is a new creature:

old things are passed away;

behold, all things are become new…

….. 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us,

who knew no sin;

that we might be made the righteousness of God

in him.”   2 Corinthians 5:17 & 21

 Because of God’s grace and love, Jesus became sin (he did no sin, but God made HIM be sin for us) so that we could receive the “righteousness of God in him”!  Oh, praise God HE has done a work of grace that we might live holy lives! May the world see Jesus in us–in our speech, in our behavior, in our responses, and in our love toward them; not by our own strength but as Paul reminds us:

“I can do

all things

through Christ

which strengtheneth me.” Philippians 4:13

 Will join me today in striving to be Jesus before a lost and dying world–someone’s eternal destiny may depend on you or me!

Amen and Amen!!!