Holiness

Our righteous ways and standing before our Lord is made possible only because the Lord of all has taken upon His yoke, our sin and our death. Faith in Jesus alone gives us any right to be bold in the day of our accounting before Him. One day my friends we will stand before our Judge and King. What is it He will see? Everything about us we can imagine. The word of God cuts like a sword exposing intents and thoughts of our heart. In this regard know that holiness is not superficial and surface. It runs much deeper. It regards the intentions of why we do what we do. Holiness is about our heart.

I wondered often why Paul "...pummeled his body and led it as a slave..." I'll tell you why. Holiness is abandoning our flesh in a disciplined and calculated manner. It is the hard work of reckoning our flesh against God's Spirit and make no mistake; Holiness is the hard work laid before us in conformity to His image. It is rightly addressing the hidden sins within us because we stand exposed nakedly before our Almighty God always. Being Holy will have us taking a look in the mirror at our patterns and habits that lie beneath the surface of our flesh and the eyes of others,  and investigate fully the spiritual reasons for our course of actions.

Imagine what God's reflection of us looks like. Does He see one confirmed to the image of His Son, or a man deeply in a struggle with His flesh? This is the battle before us.  It is internal and fierce within our mind and hearts. In my personal experience, I have only found success in overcoming by laying bare my faults and begging God to work on my heart and mind. I ask our Lord to pull out what flesh remains within me against my will.  I ask for His discipline, over and over. I ask Him to let me know what it is about me and within me He seeks to work on. I beg our Lord to expose to me my real intentions before my eyes because I want and need to know what part of Dennis needs changed. In all of these, I too know that any change is possible in and with Christ Jesus alone, because it is for Him. I may need power beyond what is normal to change this dying flesh, and I might need to reach out to my family in Christ to overcome habits and things that render me unholy. Friends I might need God to make my life uncomfortable and difficult in order for me to hear and discern that it is His loving discipline at work. However, through it all, it is always going to be a work in progress, and Christ within us that will make us a beautiful vessel for fine use in God's eternal kingdom. Holiness is attained by a beautiful humble and strong faith in understanding God's righteous standard for our lives and living accordingly. We are constantly reflecting Who it is that resides within us to those without salvation. May what they see be Jesus within us.