REFLECTIONS
March 25, 2012
 
 
As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
1 Peter 1:14-16
 
 
Holiness
 
Morning readings set my mind in motion. Most thoughts dance through my head without ever finding their way to paper. But that morning was different. Thoughts about holiness—what it meant, and whether it could come to be through human will—puzzled my imagination. So my thoughts began to unfold in my journal.
“Holiness is the setting apart by God, so holiness can be in all things,” I wrote. Then further reflection questioned if holiness can be in evil? Can God and evil co-exist in the same thing? Now my mind is really running. Does my sinful nature mean that I can never be holy? Does it mean that I can never do anything that is holy? Did God give us an eleventh commandment to add to the ten our sinful nature doesn’t let us obey?
Within me there is an ever present battle between my human nature, fraught with sin, and the will of God. It’s a daily struggle to let go of my personal desires and to allow God’s will to control my life. There is an undying part of me that seems unwilling to let go of parts of my sinful nature. So, can holiness ever be within my personal grasp? Apostle Paul explained it this way:
 
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. (Romans 8:5, 8-11)
 
In Paul’s words, I found hope. With the Spirit of Christ in us, we are holy.
 
You are the light of the world,
RichardÌ

www.reflectingthesavior.org


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