We Need a Revival of Holiness  

Recently the moral failings and unbecoming behavior of certain prominent individuals have been in the spotlight. What makes it news is that in some cases the people involved have been public proponents of moral values. Some have even professed to being followers of Christ. Don’t get me wrong. Anyone can be susceptible to temptation and to the possibility of stumbling spiritually. However, it is a different matter when these incidents seem to show that the ones involved may have been putting up a false front, or that it was less of a one-time failing and more of a habitual practice that reveals the questionable character of the person.

Such revelations are nothing new. Well-known individuals who had reputations for being good, moral Christians have fallen in the past. It serves as a good reminder to us not to put our faith in other people but to keep our eyes focused on the Lord who will not let us down.

However, I believe it also points to another vital truth. The church today desperately needs a revival of holiness. What do I mean? Even among those who profess to know Jesus as their Savior, there are often low expectations about the possibility of our actually living up to the biblical standards that are commanded of God’s people. Many expect to have moral failings on a regular basis. They not only anticipate the prospect of being tempted, but also the likelihood of their surrendering to those enticements. Godly behavior and purity of heart are not considered the norm, and some believers may not even think of those ideals as realistic possibilities.

  It is a common theme for churchgoers today to profess their sinfulness and weaknesses while exalting the wonderful truth of the forgiveness of our sins that is available to us through faith in Jesus and in His sacrificial death on the cross. And that certainly is an important and glorious truth. However, we don’t hear so much about the real change such faith makes in our conduct and character. Where are the testimonies about how God doesn’t just forgive me for my failings but is enabling me not to succumb to those temptations anymore? Where are the witnesses to how God not only forgives me for my impure thoughts and my bad attitude but is helping me to think on better things and is transforming me in the depths of my inner being? Where are those who are seeking and are experiencing the reality of God’s scriptural command to be holy?

We are called to be more than perpetual sinners who are saved by grace. We are also called to be saints or holy ones. Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t just mean that I am forgiven and going to heaven. It also means that I should be becoming more like Jesus right now. The church needs to recapture the concept of holiness – not just that we serve a holy God, but also that He calls us to be a holy people. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart” (Matthew 5:8), showing us that purity of heart is a possibility. He told us to love the Lord with all our heart and to love our neighbor as ourselves. If He commanded it, He can enable us to do it. The Bible tells us to “be holy in all your conduct” (I Peter 1:15). This goes beyond the holiness of Christ that we are credited with, but speaks of a practical holiness that shows up in how we live our lives.

None of us are immune to sin. However, we should no longer be enslaved to sin and can be holy in our hearts, minds, and actions. Seek to be the holy person God calls you to be.

 

Run Your Own Race Well  

I have a couple of grandsons who are on the cross-country team representing their school. After their latest race, I inquired of my daughter as to how the boys did. She said that they ran well. As she provided more details about her assessment of their performance, she didn’t focus on what place they finished in comparison to the other runners. Instead, she talked about how they did in relation to their PR, or personal record. She thought they did well because both of them were very close to matching the best times they have ever posted in such a race. Yes, it is good to finish ahead of other runners, but it is also important that you run well and keep improving no matter what the others around you do.

The same could be said about other areas of life, including our walk with Christ. We shouldn’t look at it primarily as a competition with others or fall into the trap of playing the comparison game. Certainly, we can look to others as examples we can follow. Paul told some people to “imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (I Corinthians 11:1). Additionally, there are those whose negative examples we can learn from. In the previous chapter Paul had mentioned the bad behavior of the Israelites when they were in the wilderness. He declared that they were intended to be our examples of what not to do. So we can learn, both positively and negatively, from the way others live their lives in relation to God.

However, we shouldn’t evaluate our spiritual lives based on others. We are all different. We have each begun our race under different circumstances and at various starting points. Some may have had advantages in their family and church environments leading up to their faith in Christ that others lacked. Furthermore, we are all blessed with differing gifts, abilities, and personalities. It can be difficult to draw comparisons with others, and doing so may even be a detriment to our running well. We can get focused on trying to be like someone else when God intends for us to be quite different in some ways.

The point is that we need to run our race well, not try to run anyone else’s race. We each have been given a specific course to run and particular abilities to use in doing so. Yours are different from mine. Don’t focus primarily on being like someone else, but more on being your best for the Lord. Yes, there are certain characteristics we should all be seeking to attain. We should all be striving to be more like Jesus and allowing Him to so work in us that the fruit of the Spirit will be increasingly evident in our lives. We all should be running to serve Christ, be lights in a dark world, and make disciples of others. Nevertheless, the way I run my race will not be exactly like the way you run yours. We each need to be pressing on to achieve our PR, our personal record. We need to be growing and making progress in our relationship with Jesus, in becoming a more holy person, and in the work we do for the Lord. No matter what others may or may not do, am I running my race well? Am I making strides forward in my spiritual growth? Am I improving in my service to Christ? I may not be where someone else is, but that person may have gotten a head start or he may be unnecessarily lagging behind. Where am I in relation to where God wants me to be and where He can enable me to go?

So let’s each “press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).   

 

Pay Attention to the Little Warning Signs  

As I cranked my car, something didn’t sound quite right. In that brief second before the engine started, it sounded like it was struggling to get enough power to turn it over. Was it just my imagination? Over the next day or so, I made certain to listen more intently every time I turned the key in my vehicle. It definitely sounded like it could be getting close to a point of not cranking. Having been in situations before where I was stuck somewhere with a dead battery, I decided to go ahead and get it checked out. Sure enough, I was right. The battery was almost dead and needed to be replaced. For someone mechanically-challenged, I was thankful I had paid attention to the little warning signs and got the issue remedied before I faced the possibility of being unexpectedly stranded somewhere.

Likewise, when our relationship with the Lord is suffering in some way, there are often indications of a problem if we would just pay attention to them. Maybe I seem to be more impatient with people and quicker to lose my temper. Or I find myself not being as firm to resist temptation as I should be. Maybe I am starting to isolate myself and be more selfish about certain things. Or it may be that I find myself starting to view church attendance and personal devotional times more as burdensome duties than as a wonderful privilege that I enjoy. Or maybe I am just finding it more difficult to fit the things of God into my busy schedule. My burden for lost souls isn’t as deep. My prayer life seems to be degenerating into repeating meaningless phrases rather than a time of meaningful worship and fellowship. Sometimes it may just be a little feeling deep in my soul. Nobody else might notice it, but I sense that something simply isn’t clicking like it should be in my spiritual life. My love for the Lord, and consequently my love for other people, seem to be growing a little colder.

We haven’t turned our backs on God. Our spiritual battery hasn’t died out, at least not yet. We are still active in many of the spiritual disciplines we practice. We may still be busy driving down that highway of serving God in various ways. However, we see the little warning signs. Our spiritual life and power seem to be waning. It is more of a struggle to get our engine started. We sense a need for personal revival.

It can be tempting to ignore such signs. We tell ourselves that maybe it is nothing to be concerned about. However, if we don’t take care of the problem now, we may well find ourselves taking a bigger fall down the road. Therefore now is the time to seek God more diligently, to pray for Him to show us our specific need, and to yield ourselves more fully to Him. Take your issue to the Master Mechanic who made us and who can help us get back to functioning the way we were meant to.

Someone else driving my car may not have noticed anything wrong with it. However, I was familiar enough with my vehicle that I knew something didn’t sound as it should. Hopefully, you know how your heart and soul functions when you are walking close to the Lord. You know how your engine sounds when you are running in harmony with God’s will for your life and when the oil of the Holy Spirit is providing the power to help you serve effectively. Pay attention if something doesn’t seem quite right. Don’t put it off. Take it to the Lord. Trust Him to diagnose the problem and to help you get back on track.

 

Love Others Enough to Tell Them the Truth  

Some of our elderly political leaders have shown signs of apparent physical and mental frailties during recent public events. These occurrences have resulted in questions being raised about age limits or term limits for our elected representatives. It makes you wonder if there aren’t those around these individuals who would lovingly confront them with the truth about their situation, encouraging them to accept the fact that it may be time to step back from their positions, or at least to refrain from seeking reelection. Many are probably afraid to broach such a sensitive subject with people or don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. However, wouldn’t it be a greater act of love, as well as better for our country, to help such persons come to terms with the truth rather than enabling them to keep denying reality while putting themselves in embarrassing situations?  

 The same holds true when it comes to spiritual frailties. Some people seem to think that love means refusing to point out to others when they have strayed from the path of God’s will. They view love as affirming others, even if those individuals have become confused or are willfully ignoring the truth. Is it loving to ignore ways of thinking and behavior that put people at odds with what God has revealed in His Word to be the truth? Is it loving to encourage people to live in ways that result in their missing out on God’s better plan for their lives, as well as what could eventually end in eternal separation from their Maker?   

Granted, we need to be careful and prayerful in how we confront others. Unfortunately, there are those who do it in harsh ways and with a more condemning, self-righteous attitude rather than with a loving, humble, redemptive spirit. Nevertheless, love doesn’t stand idly by while people are traveling down a road leading toward heartache and destruction. It warns them and encourages them to change direction.  

The Bible tells us of an occasion when ungodly King Ahab was going out to battle (See I Kings 22). He gathered a bunch of prophets to tell him exactly what he wanted to hear – prophesying of success and victory. However, he was resistant about bringing in one particular prophet who spoke the true word of the Lord. In Ahab’s words, “I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.” God’s prophet ended up confronting Ahab with the truth, including foretelling his defeat and death.

The truth can be painful. However, that doesn’t mean we don’t need to hear it and take it to heart. Too many today are like Ahab. They listen only to those voices who agree with them, who affirm their sinful behavior, and who tell them what they want to hear. And they hate those who dare to assert the truth about what God actually says in His Word about certain matters.

Romans 1:16-32 describes the moral decline of a society. Unfortunately, it sounds all too much like our own world today. This passage ends by describing all kinds of immorality, closing with this indictment on the people involved in it: “who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them” (Romans 1:32).

We live in a time when individuals, society, and religious leaders are guilty of not only practicing such immorality, but affirming those who do so. They often do it in the name of love, even in the name of a God of love. However, real love will tell people the truth and warn them about the need to turn from their sin.

Who needs you to love them enough to help them face reality?

 

There Is Either Truth or Consequences  

Many of us were saddened to hear of the recent death of iconic TV host Bob Barker. Most people remember him solely from his longtime duties on the game show The Price Is Right. However, a few of us are old enough to recall his roles in previous programs. One of those was entitled Truth or Consequences. I can’t tell you much at all about the show. All I remember is that as a youngster I enjoyed watching it regularly, and part of that pleasure was due to its congenial host.

The title of that show brings up an issue that we would do well to remember in our day. There is truth. And if we refuse to believe it, receive it, and live according to it, there will be consequences for us to face. The truth is found in Jesus, who declared that He was the truth (John 14:6), as well as in the entirety of God’s word which is also clearly stated to be the truth (John 17:17; Psalm 119:160).

God plainly confronted the people of Israel with this principle about truth and the consequences of ignoring it. He promised them blessings if they chose to accept the truth He had revealed to them and live in obedience to it. At the same time, He warned them that there would be severe repercussions if they turned away from the truth and decided to disobey His commandments. The Old Testament provides a history of how that promise was proven true again and again. That principle also carries over into the New Testament. Those who receive Jesus and the truth are blessed with eternal life. Those who reject Him and the truth are condemned. Yes, a loving God does condemn sin. Out of His love and grace, He has made a way for us to avoid the consequences, but again we must believe and receive the truth in order to experience His gracious deliverance.

  Individuals and our society as a whole today are having to deal with the consequences of rejecting the truth. People wonder why they are so unhappy, angry, and unfulfilled. They don’t understand why their lives are in such a mess. Likewise, our society seeks answers to the growing problems we are facing today, such as violence, lawlessness, and the various outcroppings of hatred. The roots of many of our personal and societal ills can be traced back to the simple fact that we have chosen to snub the truth. In some cases, we deny truth in general or we make it totally subjective by referring to “your truth” or “my truth” instead of “the truth”. In other cases, people have flatly rejected some of the specific truths God has revealed, or they reinterpret His words in order to make them fit their own views.

There are ministers today who need to be reminded that there are consequences to rejecting the truth of God’s Word. They deceive people with their mishandling of the scriptures while accusing those who adhere to its clear teachings as the ones who are twisting its message. The Bible indicates that those who are in such positions of leadership who lead others astray through their deceptive teachings will have to face greater condemnatory consequences than others. That fact shouldn’t be declared with a self-righteous smile on our faces but rather with a mournful tear in our eye. We should be prayerfully burdened for individuals, for our society, for our nation, and for a church and its ministers who have turned away from the truth.

Let’s be committed to the truth – the truth revealed in Jesus and in the whole of scripture. If we ignore it or reject it, there will be consequences, even more than there already are.