Godliness can be received from God as we respond to His resources. The Word of God instructs us to train ourselves in godliness (1 Tim. 4:7). As we yield ourselves to God we will grow in godliness.
Jesus is the truth and as we grow in His knowledge we will grow in godliness (Titus 1:1). The apostle Peter encourages believers to understand that by the divine power in Christ, we have been granted everything we need for life and godliness (2 Pet 1:3, 4). Therefore no Christian can say that we cannot be godly.
We have been saved with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to the purposes of God and the grace we have received in Christ. (2 Tim 1:9) In the Old Testament, in Leviticus 20:26, the Lord says that since we belong to Him we must live for Him. Many Christians after being born again live in the memory of their saving experience.
The problem in most cases is that we know Christ as our Saviour but fail to recognize His lordship over our lives. Every aspect of our lives must be surrendered to His lordship. An inherent weakness in our Christian faith is the excessive compartmentalization that most of us suffer from; be it “personal life, “spiritual life,” “official life” and “social life.” In the midst of such lack of integrity in our lives, we must recall the love of the resurrected Lord (2 Cor. 5:15) and aspire to reflect His glory in every aspect of our life.
When Christ is the Lord of our lives, we will enjoy every moment of our lives. In living for Christ, we are to set ourselves apart from the world to live for Him (hagios-Greek for holy). We are called to mirror the holiness of God not only in our actions but also in our thoughts and the motives behind those thoughts. Resources for manifesting the holiness of God 1. Word of God … The transforming power of the Word will enable us to live a joyful life in Christ (Math. 4:4). 2. Spirit of God … If we walk by the Spirit, we will not seek to gratify the sinful desires of our flesh (Gal 5:6, NIV).
Our pursuit for the holiness of God should however not been misconceived as a personal claim to perfection. Even though there may be times when we stumble in our faith life, God continues to work in us. He never gives up on us and works all things in us according to His will and purpose. 3. Faith … The blood of Christ is our hope; grace and not our own holiness forms the basis our lives. Faith leads to obedience (Romans 1:5).
We must draw inspiration and encouragement from the lives of faithful saints of God and seek to emulate them (Heb. 13:7). A reading of Jeremiah 32:38-41, reveals the grace of God and how His love inspires us to a reverent fear of Him that we may live for Him; that He shall be pleased to never cease doing good to us. We are inspired to holiness unto Him, to please Him and not people. Practical ways to inspire holiness
We should fill ourselves with the Word of God (Psalm 119:35). There are six things we must bear in mind in our quest to imbibe the holiness of God.
1. Love of God … We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:10; Jer. 31:3). Obedience to God is a joyful response and not a burden.
2. Grace of God … Grace of God is not a license to sin (2 Tit. 2:11-14). Our Holy God has forgiven us our sins because of the blood of Jesus and His grace motivates us to walk away from further sinfulness.
3. Mercy … In view of God’s mercy, we are exhorted to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1). Every part of our body which we earlier offered to sin is now to be offered to God (Romans 6:13, 14).
4. Kindness of God … The kindness of God leads to repentance (Romans 2:4). God does not use a stick to inspire repentance. We should not let anything stand in the way of God’s kindness upon us.
5. Kingdom of God … In this world, with all its wickedness, we can enjoy the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 4:20). Our God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:28) and inspires a reverent awe in us.
6. Promises of God … We are inheritors of every good promise in Old and New Testament (2 Cor. 7:1). We don’t need to claim promises for they are already ours. Christian life is about taking possession and not losing our inheritance in God (Obadiah 1: 17, 18). In the light of such lavish pampering received from God, the least we can do is honour our Most Holy God through our (holy and blameless) words, actions, thoughts and the motivation behind our thoughts.
We are called to be spiritually naked before God, an act which separates God-pleasers from people-pleasers. We may thus be holy before people but God is able to examine our hearts (Psalms 90:8). Let no one say that God causes us to sin. Temptations come our way only when we have the strength to face them (1 Cor. 10:13). We should not worry about temptations that may come our way. Temptations are opportunities to exercise the privilege of saying no to sin and thereby have the peace and joy of obedience. What is the fruit of holiness? – Peace – Irene in Greek stands for unity with God. This peace cannot be taken away by circumstances. Only sin frustrates our peace with God. Hardships bring endurance and manifest the peace of God. God wants us to walk with Him in sustained holiness. God wants the Church to be free of planks and specs.
Author: Mr. R. Rajkumar is an Electronics and Telecommunications Engineer. He is a Bible teacher and revival preacher.
About the Author
