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In reading the Bible, you’ll find numerous scriptures exhorting us to BE HOLY, and it may appear that holiness is something we must work at obtaining. For example, 1 Peter 1:14-16, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
So are we working to get holy? If we were on the Old Covenant side of Calvary, we would be working for it, being very careful to observe the Law and all the commandments of God.
But praise the Lord we are on THIS side of Calvary! JESUS has cleansed us from all unrighteousness – by His blood – at Calvary, making us His set apart people.
As Rev Paul Ellis has clarified in a few words, the holiness answer is that God is calling us to be who we truly are. He is saying, “You are my sanctified children. Act like it. Be who I made you to be.”
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones has said: “Holiness is not something we are called upon to do in order that we may become something; it is something we are to do because of what we already are….”
Our part is to mature into what He has already made us. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18 we are “being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.” Notice it’s “from glory to glory,” not “from garbage to glory.” His blood has made us holy. New Creations in Christ are already holy, forgiven, and accepted by God.
If you are trying to make yourself holy by acting holy, behaving holy, doing holy things, STOP. You just can’t do it. Instead, see Jesus, the One who transforms believers into holy new creations.
We have been given a new nature, so we don’t act in the pattern of our old one. That’s hypocrisy. It’s pretending to be someone we — no longer are.Romans 6:19 can be paraphrased as, “Just as you used to live unto wickedness when you were wicked, live unto holiness now that you are holy.”
The exhortations to live holy are pictures of the wholesome, healthy life we get to enjoy as we allow Christ to express His holy life through us.”
Today, if you are born again, may you grasp that you ARE holy, allow Christ to express His holy life through you — and COME ALIVE!
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