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Holiness: How to Keep It


In today's society holiness has become synonymous with held back. It is viewed as a being something that deprives you of earthly pleasures and purpose. If someone chooses to live a holy life they are considered to be odd or self-righteous. Those who seriously believe they should forsake things of this world to be closer to God are seen as outcasts who cannot get with the times. The truth is that we need more people thirsting for holiness. It is only by Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit that anyone is holy. We exchanged our sinfulness for Christ's righteousness at the cross, but the act of living holy is another issue. We have been given the gift of grace and been saved through Christ Jesus. We are made holy now by his blood. However, we do control how holy he remain in the sight of the Lord and people of this world. What you choose to do each day and every action of every second makes you holy or full of holes in your character.
 
You can have eternal salvation but no fruit of that salvation. Being holy is not about doing legalistic rituals or setting up measures to be better than everyone else. It is an attitude of honoring Christ with your body, mind, heart, spirit, and actions. It is the decision to stay transformed and reborn in Jesus and not turn back to the practices that make you open to dark spirits and deep sin. Paul said, "I pursing the goal, do not return to my former state before I was saved, pressing forward to the goal, no turning
back." (Philippians 3:13). It is this attitude of keeping the position that was won for you at Calvary that is holiness. It is as my pastor said, "holiness is wholeness before God." It is choosing not to be divided in your heart or to spend your time regretting actions you know grieve Jesus.
 
Holiness is being sold out for Christ. It is to say that I will have no part in things that harm or interrupt my relationship with my Savior and God. There is so much that vies for our attention and energies that is devoid of the Deliverer and full of the devil. The goal is not to be perfect, Jesus is perfect for us, but we should want to keep ourselves innocent of those things that try to steal from our relationship with the Lord. Those desires, passions, interests, and choices that make us enemies of God should be surrendered and sacrificed before the altar of our Heavenly Father.
 
The Enemy of our faith is hard at work to deceive, steal, and kill us (). He wants us to fall back into old vices and patterns of sin so that we are slaves to him or so that we feel unworthy and underserving of communication with Jesus and fellowship with the saints. Satan wants us to be isolated and to do that he shames us by seducing people back into their old pagan and pernicious paths.
 
Resolve to remain holy not by works, but by clinging to Christ and choosing to forsake anything that is at war, seeks to undermined, sow seeds of doubt, or pervert your beliefs. It may be hard and require a major purge of possessions and even people, but it will be worth it to keep "pressing forward" into Christ's presence.

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