Monday, February 22 - Holiness to the Lord
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2019-21&version=NIV
What is our reponse to all these commands? My answer to this question was the key to transforming my attitude toward this book.
Chapter 19 starts with an awesome command then the chapter goes on to list various commands of do’s and don’ts
Lev 19:1-2
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: 'You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.
We might think this is just an Old Covenant concept yet the Lord Jesus said the same thing
Matt 5:48
"Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
On our best day, if the Lord were to shine his light of His awesome holiness and perfection into our hearts, we would shrink in fear and guilt. So how in the world are we to be holy as the Lord is holy and to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect? Sure when I compare myself to others, I can look pretty good but to compare myself to the Lord of Hosts - this is a whole other matter. We will find our answer later in chapter 20.
First we need to realize we are without hope of obtaining God’s holiness apart from God’s help.
The prophet Isaiah got a glimpse of the 3 times Holy God
Isa 6:1-5
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!" And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said: "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."
What is our response to all these commands we are reading in the book of Leviticus? Is it, "Hey I'm doing pretty good" Our response to all these commands should be the same response as the prophet Isaiah when he saw the 3x Holy God!
Woe is me, for I am undone!
To be holy, we must realize we aren’t holy! This is the place the holy God meets with sinful man to make him holy
Isa 57:15
For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Yes, as we humble ourselves and cry out to the Holy God, He fills us with His Spirit which then enables us to obey the commands of God. As we walk in the Spirit we won’t fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
This is the same concept we read in Lev. 20:7-8
Lev 20:7-8
"'Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the LORD, who makes you holy.
“I am the LORD who makes you holy”
Without Him we have no hope to be holy but through Him we can obtain holiness. Holiness is imparted to us when we become believers in Christ Jesus and as we walk in the Spirit our daily conduct starts to match our position.
Am I holy? By the grace of God and by the blood of Christ I am and day by day as I walk in the Spirit, my conduct starts to match my position in Christ. Positionally in Christ, we’ll never be any more holy than the day we got saved but we sure will be more holy in our daily conduct as God sanctifies us (making our daily conduct match our position)
This is the beauty of God’s work in us is as we walk with Him, we start to desire to obey the commands of God. It becomes as natural to obey God as it did to obey our lusts when we were slaves to sin.
This song by Michael W. Smith sums up my thoughts quite well
submitted by Kirby Wiseman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLh9tK7qPhw
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Are you Washing the Dishes?
ReplyDeleteHow to be holy every day?
I like to wash dishes by hand everyday. First, I can clean them better than the dishwasher and second it saves on electricity cost. In order to get my dishes clean, I have to wash them right away with clean running hot water and soap. I have to make sure the inside and the outside are thoroughly washed so it will be ready for use.
Sometimes when I’m to busy or too tired to wash dishes I want to just leave them in the sink but I know I have to finish them now or it will take a lot more time later to clean them. After the food dries on the dishes, it is a lot harder to get the dishes clean. Cleaning the dishes now will take less time and involve a lot less stress
As we go about our day, we are become like these dirty dishes. Our sins start to pile up on us the same way food does on the dirty dishes. By the end of the day, we can be caked with sins.
This is the reason we have to deal with our sins every morning. We can’t ignore them and hope they will go away. We have to ask God to help us and to ask God for a sensitive heart toward His conviction.
This is my prayer every morning:
“Oh Lord, I am so foolish and have so much human desire to turn from you to sin. Father please open my spiritual eyes so I can see through your eyes, please open my ears so I can hear your voice when you are speaking to me, please direct all my decisions by your leading. Please touch my heart so I can feel your presence. I am so blind so please hold my hands to cause me to walk in your path and if I do something wrong or go in the wrong direction, please convict my spirit.“
Every night it is also important to come before the cross in repentance and to confess any sins God is convicting us of. We need to ask the Lord to cleanse our soul as a white as snow by blood of Jesus Christ.
This is very important because it is only by the blood of Christ we can have our sins removed from the inside and outside.
Like washing the dishes, holiness is not difficult but it is doesn’t’ happen automatically. We must repent and confess our sins to Jesus Christ. Don’t leave the dishes undone. It’s much easier to take care of the sins today than to wait until tomorrow.