Tag: holiness

Active hope

Reflections based on 1 Peter 1:13–24.

Last week we looked at the start of 1 Peter 1. The second half of that chapter continues with an exhortation to set our hope on future grace. This is an active thing; a choice. Indeed John Piper has described hope as being ‘faith in the future tense’ (a phrase we will come back to later in our study) and, just like faith needs to be exercised in order to grow, so too, I believe, does hope. So what should that action look like?

In these verses we are being urged to live holy lives rather than giving in to our earthly nature, and to love one another sincerely. If we are honest, there are times when it is far easier to give in to fear, anger, lust, dishonesty etc. What about the harsh words spoken over you? Maybe by someone in your local church? Or the friend or spouse who does something to really hurt you? Or perhaps you suffer daily through sickness. It is hard to feel hopeful in these times – and hard not to respond with our fleshy natures.

We will be taking a closer look at how we cling to hope in the midst of troubles later, but I think one of the keys is contained within this passage. We constantly have to remind ourselves that we were saved by something that will never perish – the precious blood of Jesus. And our truly, magnificent, all-powerful heavenly Father chose to redeem us in this way and so our hope is also in Him.

Whatever today looks like, our tomorrow is certain and sure – glorious intimacy with Him. Remind yourself today that God’s word is ‘living and enduring’ and never returns to Him empty (Isaiah 55:11). God will always have the last word. Hallelujah!

For prayer and reflection: Meditate on the fact that Jesus was chosen before the creation of the world to be your Saviour. How you can remind yourself of that amazing hope throughout today?

A prayer for holiness

Reflections based on 1 Thessalonians 3:12–13; 2 Timothy 2:20–22.

Today’s short reading, which I have chosen from 1 Thessalonians 3:12, is my prayer for you as we end this study on holiness together. The verses talk about how it is Jesus who makes us strong and enables us to love one another. Not only that, Paul is reminding the Thessalonian church that it is the Holy Spirit alone who can strengthen them – from the heart outwards. He does this for each one of us, in order for us to be ‘blameless and holy’ before God. 

During this study we have looked at how holy our God is, why blood sacrifice was necessary for us to have a restored relationship with Him and what responsibility we have to pursue holiness. In our final look at holiness I want to come full circle, back to a reminder that, for all the efforts that we do need to put in, becoming holy is based on our standing in Christ and the work that the Holy Spirit does within us.

As we have seen, holiness means being set apart. Two Timothy reminds us that vessels can be used for both noble or common uses. Paul was urging Timothy to allow God to use him for His higher purposes. I love the way The Message translates verse 22: ‘Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing.’

There needs to be a willingness to set aside our own agendas and bow to God’s will for our lives in order to be made holy and to bless others. But that is also the way to satisfaction and fruitfulness. Remember: we have been made alive in Christ – becoming holy simply means becoming more the people that we were created to be.

Prayer: Lord, thank You that in You I am blameless before God. I recognise that continuing to pursue holiness is the way to become the person You want me to be. Help me to submit to the work that the Holy Spirit is doing in my life. Amen.

Running with perseverance

Reflections based on Hebrews 12:1–14.

Let’s start by reminding ourselves of some central truths that we have discovered during our devotional on holiness. Today’s reading is a great motivational passage to help us run our race of life well, refusing to give in to sin. It teaches us to remember Jesus and how He lived His life with His goal always before Him. There is a ‘big picture’ being painted here, which is there to help strengthen us in those moments when we feel like giving up our efforts. 

We are also told to ‘Endure hardship as discipline’ (v7), as we are God’s children and that ‘God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness’ (v10). Jerry Bridges in The Pursuit of Holiness says that, ‘Holiness is … required for our well-being’ and makes the point that God’s discipline is a way in which He enables us to become holy. He disciplines us because He loves us and desires to have the type of close relationship a father has to his child.

Again we see the word ‘Therefore’ being used in verse 12. There is a sense that we need to be responsible and disciplined in our lifestyles and that it isn’t just for our benefit. We are to be good examples to others and live at peace with one another.

I have ended today’s reading with the reminder that ‘without holiness no one will see the Lord’. Yes it is a gift freely given, but if we long to see God we must run hard after holiness. I love how Kevin de Young puts it: ‘To run hard after holiness is another way of running hard after God’.* It isn’t holiness as an end in itself that we are seeking, but the One in whom it is all hidden: Jesus.

Prayer: Father, help me to understand the unending love that is behind Your discipline. And that seeking holiness is really seeking to know Jesus more. Amen.

*Kevin de Young, The Hole in our Holiness (Crossway, 2007)

Hidden in Christ

Reflections based on Colossians 3:1–17.

Photo by Matt Hardy from Pexels 

In recent weeks we have looked at what it means to have new life in Christ, and how we should live as a result. We’ve seen the importance, both individually and corporately, of truly comprehending our standing in Christ as it is the key to our holiness.

As we’ve read in many other places, this passage continues to use the word ‘therefore’: because we are now alive in Christ there are things we need to ‘put to death’ (or destroy the power of) – things that belong to our sinful nature. We are also instructed to clothe ourselves in virtues – the one that binds them all together is love. I love the image of dressing ourselves with such items and in fact wrote a previous post about this, which I hope you might find helpful.

We are given a picture of how the individuals in a church can come together too, to praise God but also encourage and teach one another – and to do it all in Jesus’ name with an attitude of thanksgiving. 

I just want to focus briefly on the small phrase ‘hidden with Christ in God’. I love this phrase, and it reminds me of when Moses asked to see God’s glory (see Exodus 33:12–23). He was told God would hide him in a cleft in the rock as He passed by because he couldn’t look on God’s face and live due to His holiness. Similarly, we are now hidden in the rock of Jesus, safe and secure.

Optional further reading: Ephesians 4:1–16.

Ananias and Sapphira

Reflections based on Acts 5:1-11.

While this is a very different passage, I feel this follows on well from last week’s look at corporate holiness (1 Peter 2:4-10). In Acts 4 it says that the believers shared their possessions and made sure no one was in need. This is a fantastic picture of unity. And yet, even amongst the infant Church, there was a couple who chose to hold back and lie. Their story seems reminiscent of what happened to Aaron’s sons and I think it challenges us not to think of God’s holiness too lightly now we are post-Old Testament sacrifices.

In his book on holiness, John White raises the whole issue of God still being dangerous post-the cross: ‘It is quite true that God’s love is the most self-giving love. It has redeemed us and has already imparted to us a sanctification and a righteousness that could never be won by law. But we cannot take it for granted. Our souls may be saved, but our physical lives can be endangered if we grow careless about the holiness of divine things.’

I think that is what was happening here. Ananias and Sapphira were punished not because they chose to hold back some money for themselves – their land and their offering were their own to decide what to do with – but due to the lying and taking for granted that it wouldn’t matter. They revealed hearts that had a real lack of respect for the truth and being honest with God and His people. Note how the rest of the church responded: ‘Great fear seized the whole church’ (v11). They had a sudden reminder that God is holy and does not treat sin lightly. I wonder whether today’s church could do with a similar reminder …

Prayer: Lord, so often we treat Your holiness too lightly. You cannot entertain sin; help us individually and corporately to remember that. Amen.

A holy nation

Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán from Pexels

Reflections based on 1 Peter 2:4–10.

This passage is reminiscent of the way that God referred to the Israelites – how He set them apart to be His people. There is further Old Testament language used here: the holy priesthood and spiritual sacrifices. Isaiah 28 is quoted, reminding us that Jesus is the stone that God’s holy temple is built on. The amazing thing is that we not only get to be God’s holy dwelling place, we are knitted together with others into a much bigger ‘spiritual house’.

We saw last week how the Holy Spirit testifies that we are children of God. Here we are being reminded that the truth is even bigger than that. We gain a sense of perspective through this reading; it isn’t just about you or me as an individual. Yes, we are important and precious to God, but we are part of a ‘chosen people’, a ‘holy nation’ that God has set apart for Himself. As we saw with the Old Testament passages we looked at earlier in this study, a lot of Scripture focuses on corporate holiness. That is why I wanted to include 1 Peter 2; to show that it wasn’t just an Old Testament concept. It is also a good reminder that we are not to focus on ourselves but live in the light of the fact that we are stones being built into the same building as our fellow believers.

In the Old Testament we saw how ‘God’s people had a priesthood, but today God’s people are a priesthood.’* In biblical times especially, it was a privilege to be a priest – today all that we do, both individually but also together, should therefore be for God’s glory. As verse 9 tells us, the responsibility of our shared calling is to reveal ‘the praises of him’ to the world around us.

Prayer: Lord You have called me, and my fellow believers, to be Your holy nation. Help us to live and work in unity, revealing Your glory to those we come into contact with. Amen.

*Warren Wiersbe, Be Hopeful: How to make the best times out of your worst of times (1 Peter) (David C Cook, 2009).
NB This study was first written for Inspiring Women Every Day. It wasn’t until I was uploading this page to my blog that I made the connection that so much of my research for such Bible notes has included books by Warren Wiersbe. I am truly grateful for his life, and the lives of our other dear brothers and sisters who have died recently, including Rachel Held Evans and Jean Vanier. We influence one another just by sharing our lives, and/or putting our ideas and thoughts ‘out there’ for one another to read and think about. The three I mention here were from different Christian traditions, but each brought fresh revelations to me and countless others. We truly are a varied ‘spiritual house’ – but may we be built up into unity with one another.

The testimony of the Holy Spirit

Reflections based Romans 8:1–17.

We have been looking at the fact that we do need to take responsibility for our sin and yet we are not alone in our journey of holiness. Romans 8 centres around the truth that the Holy Spirit is the one who helps us to experience our salvation and take hold of it fully. Verse 1 begins with a reminder that we are no longer condemned. This is like a breath of fresh air when we are battling habitual sins daily. We don’t need to beat ourselves up and promise God we will try harder – we need to remember that the Holy Spirit works inside us to navigate our minds and actions so that they are focused on what pleases God. 

Note that Paul says, ‘if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ’ (v9). Turning this on its head, we can view it as a great promise – if we have accepted Jesus as Lord we do have His Spirit living inside us. Our tussles with sin can make us doubt that, but it is important to remind ourselves that He lives inside us and will help us to live holy lives. Interestingly, verses 12 and 13 talk about our obligation to live by the Spirit – but that it is through Him that we do this. 

What comes next is such an incredible truth. We are no longer slaves to fear but have been given a Spirit of sonship/daughtership. We have been adopted and have become God’s children. We’ve already talked about how this makes us heirs with Christ – Romans 8 shows us that it is the Holy Spirit who reminds us of this fact, who testifies to our spirits that we are children of God. What an amazing gift from God!

Prayer: God, thank You that Your Holy Spirit lives inside of me, reminding me that I am Your child, and enabling me to set my mind on those things that please You. I am so grateful. Amen.

Living the life already won

Reflections based on Romans 6:1–23.

Having taken a break over the Easter school holiday, it seems quite fitting that our first weekly devotional since celebrating Jesus’ victory over sin and death on Easter Sunday is all about us stepping into the life He won for us…

Paul starts our passage with a rhetorical question (‘Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?’) – but answers it quickly with a resounding ‘no’! If we continue to sin once we accept the gospel we are belittling both the seriousness of sin and the way that God dealt with it. The language used talks of us once being slaves to sin, but now slaves to God. We can find this language difficult but Paul is using the term ‘slave’ to underline the fact that we’ve been bought at a price (see v19 for his explanation). The paradox is that becoming slaves to God is the only way to true freedom.

The problem is, we all continue to sin – why? Often we struggle with sin because we don’t fully understand what Jesus did for us. He took us from one kingdom and made us alive in His. We don’t have to be enslaved to our old sinful nature. The battle can often be in our thinking. Jesus has already killed sin, but we are told in verse 11 to ‘count yourselves dead to sin’. We need to take hold of this. Sometimes that means practically taking hold of the thoughts in our heads (see Romans 12:2) that lead to sin and replacing them with biblical truth. 

Jerry Bridges, in his book The Pursuit of Holiness, explains: ‘It is our habit to live for ourselves and not for God. When we become Christians, we do not drop all this overnight. In fact, we will spend the rest of our lives putting off these habits and putting on habits of holiness’ (NavPress Publishing Group, 2003). It takes time and effort to change habits – but the key is in understanding that we are now in Christ. As Kevin de Young says, ‘The pursuit of holiness is…the fight to live out the life that has already been made alive in Christ’ (The Hole in our Holiness, Crossway, 2007).

Prayer: Lord, I can see that there is no need for me to give in to sin any longer, but that I need to cultivate habits in order to make right choices. Help me to start that today. Amen.


Choosing to be living sacrifices

Reflections based on Romans 12:1–21.

This chapter really hones in on how we should live in response to the gospel. Paul starts with a ‘therefore’ and also uses the phrase ‘in view of God’s mercy’. These are the triggers — the response is down to us. While it is true, as we have seen, that we are made holy only through Jesus, and God clothes us in His righteousness, we are in the process of being sanctified. And, while that is done through the power of the Holy Spirit, we do need to make choices and take action.

So many of Paul’s instructions here are active: ‘offer’, ‘Do not conform’, ‘be transformed’, ‘Do not think of yourself’, ‘Hate what is evil, cling to what is good’ etc. James states that faith without works is dead (James 2:14–26) and I think, similarly, Paul is saying here that the process of becoming holy does include us being responsible on a daily basis for choosing to lay down our own agendas and offer ourselves up to God. 

I think that often we can shy away from thinking about our own part in our path to holiness. And yet, as Kevin de Young puts it, ‘The Bible clearly teaches that holiness is possible. This is good news, not bad news … You are allowed (and expected) to be obedient. You cannot do anything to earn God’s love. But as a redeemed, regenerate child of God you don’t have to be a spiritual failure.’ (The Hole in our Holiness, Crossway, 2007)

There is also imagery in this passage about each one of us being part of a body and that we need to think of the whole and use our gifts to benefit it. As Christians, we need each other. But Paul goes further: our holiness is to impact every area of our lives, including the way we interact with people generally.

Prayer: Lord I am humbled as I ponder how the choices I make daily affect my path to holiness. Help me to choose to remember who You are today –and who you have made me to be.

Taking hold of our salvation

Reflections based on Colossians 1:3–24.

The first part of this passage reveals how Paul prayed for the Christians in Colossae. It was with an attitude of thankfulness that he prayed. He reminds them of what they have in Jesus – the faith and love that the gospel affords them. 

It is interesting to look at what Paul prays in verses 9 and 10: that they may have a greater understanding and wisdom through the Holy Spirit. This is the continuing work of sanctification that God does in our lives. Yes we are reconciled to God through Jesus’ death, but we must ‘continue in our faith’ (as v23 says) in order to live a life worthy of God. That may seem a little like we are being told we need to ‘do’ in order to please, but the word Paul uses here is axios, which means ‘in a manner that is worthy’, or ‘in a way that is fitting’.

This is talking about us living in a way that befits our new identity: holy children of God. How we do this is not through our own efforts but through the Holy Spirit’s enabling. It is through His power that we are able to endure, and Paul reminds us that we lay hold of this through an attitude of thanksgiving for we are now qualified to partake of the inheritance God has called ‘his holy people’ (v12) to.

Paul goes on to focus on the absolute supremacy of Jesus: that He is the firstborn who holds everything together. 

It is only through Jesus that we can be blemish and accusation free — but we need to choose to keep hold of our faith in Him. It is when we recognise that our confidence about our holiness before God can only be found in Jesus that we truly grasp the amazing nature of our salvation.

Prayer: God it is incredible that You view me as without blemish or accusation. By Your Spirit please continue to reveal the fullness of the knowledge of what that means to me. Amen.