What does God want Christians to be doing?

While waiting for Heaven we are called to pursue Holy lives. God has also commissioned each of us to witness for Him.

Words, deeds and attitudes that reflect God's character reveal Him to a watching world. Confession of faith in Jesus Christ carries weight only when accompanied by the proof of a changed life.

A set-apart Holy life attracts those being drawn to the Savior while convicting those who reject Him.

God's plan to establish His eternal dwelling place fuels our desire to bless our community today.

Jesus Himself gave us a list in the scriptures:

In Matthew 6 He told us to: give to the needy, pray, forgive others, fast, don't make money your god, don't worry, but seek God's kingdom and His righteousness first.

From Matthew 28:19-20 He told us to make disciples and teach them to obey all God has commanded.

And from Acts 20:24 we are told to testify to the Gospel of God's Grace.

It's pretty clear!

In view of Heaven, how ought we to live?

This is something I wanted to remember from a Bible Study Fellowship study of the book of Revelation I’ve been doing all year.

2 Peter 3: 10-13 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. 11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

Peter sums up what kind of people we should be. Holy and godly ones who look forward to the day of the Lord and speed its coming.

It’s not enough to go through the motions of life, knowing we are on our way to a better place. Heaven motivates whole hearted commitment to holy and godly living now. God’s Word tells us when we see Jesus we will be like Him. Because Jesus is holy and we will be completely holy when we see Him, the logical goal for every believer is to pursue holy living now. This is also God’s command and it glorifies Him when we do it.

God has not only commanded us to be holy, He commissioned us to witness for Him. Words, deeds and attitudes that reflect God’s character reveal Him to a watching world. Confession of faith in Jesus Christ carries weight only when accompanied by the proof of a transformed life. A set-apart, holy life attracts those being drawn to the Savior while convicting those who reject him.

God’s plan to establish His eternal dwelling place fuels our desire to bless our community today. Believers join the Lord in His work of redemption, bringing the justice, peace and righteousness of his kingdom, in some measure, to our world today. God gave us a mandate to fill the earth and reign over it. We are stewards charged to help all of God’s creation flourish. Jeremiah called God’s people to seek peace and prosperity for their community.

How are you working for justice in your community as you pray and wait for Jesus to complete that work at His coming?

The Holiness of God

Still continuing my lesson from the book The Pursuit of Holiness:

1 Peter 1:15-16 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

This call is to everyone. Not just ministers and missionaries. The Christian plumber, housewife and politician are included.

As humans we tend to adapt to the behavior of the people around us. We measure ourselves against other Christians. But, God is our standard. Holiness is nothing less than conformity to the character of God.

Holiness is just one of His attributes, but it’s an essential part of His nature and holy is used more often as a prefix to His name than any other. God never struggles with what’s right to do, or doing it. We, on the other hand, both struggle with what’s right to do AND then doing it because the right action may involve sacrifice or be a blow to our pride.

God always does what is just and right. So His holiness is perfect freedom from all evil.

1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

No darkness, no evil! All of His thoughts and actions are consistent with His holy character. When we look at our Christian life in contrast, we hopefully see that we’re developing a certain degree of Christian character. That we are growing in areas of truthfulness, purity and humility.

But, we’re not always consistent. We still tell a lie. We still have impure thoughts.

This never happens to God. And it’s His standard that we are called to.

That He’s like this should be a real comfort to us because we can be confident that His actions toward us will always be perfect and just. Sometimes when people are in a trial you’ll hear them say that God is unfair. But it’s impossible for God to be unfair. He is holy! Acknowledging His holiness is one of the ways we are to praise God!

And because He is holy He can’t ignore or approve any evil committed. He cannot for one minute relax His standard of holiness.

Habakkuk 1:13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?

Also because of His holiness He will never tempt us to sin. James 1:13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;

Never feel like God is placing you in a situation where you have no choice.

God hates sin. Every time we sin we are doing something God hates! And hate is a very strong word.

As we grow in holiness, we grow in hatred of sin. Even though as Christians, we are justified solely through the righteousness of Christ we are told by the writer of Hebrews in 12:14 to “make every effort to be holy: without holiness no one will see the Lord.”

God’s standard for our character and actions is “Be Holy because I am holy.”

"Be Holy Because I Am Holy"

The book of Leviticus contains rules for holy living. It is God’s handbook for the Israelites whom He chose and set apart. Holy means morally perfect, pure and set apart from sin. It is giving your whole self up to God.

Leviticus 20:26 says, “You shall be holy to me; for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine…”

We should live in a manner worthy of all God has done for us. God’s moral perfection, properly seen, will purify us from sin, cleanse our minds from our problems and enable us to worship and serve. We learn about God’s moral perfection in the Bible. Daily Bible study has a purifying affect on our hearts and minds. Scripture points out sin, motivates us to confess, renews our right relationship with Christ and guides us back on the right path. Psalm 119:9-16 asks, “How can a young man keep his way pure?” And answers, “By guarding it according to thy word.”

Psalm 34:13-14 tells us to “Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.”

God promises us blessings if we strive for holiness. “And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be my people.” In Romans 16:20 Paul tells us God will crush Satan under OUR feet. Every time we embrace good and shun evil. When we live by the truth and do what is right and good regardless of resultant consequences, God is glorified and Satan shown a failure.

Make this your goal in life: “I always do what is pleasing to Him.” John 8:29

Christians are called to be like God: merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, forgiving… Exodus 34:6-7