"To be holy..." Devotional for July - Week Four

There has been a constant debate over the centuries within the church between those advocating "Predestination" (God has already chosen the "elect") and "Free Will" (we choose to follow or not). What does it really come down to though?

What John 10:28,29 says is true, "No one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand."

Obviously, this verse is used quite a bit by the predestination crowd. However, this verse means that we need not fear something external taking away our salvation, but internal... i.e. our free will demonstrated by our lifestyle and how close we are to God's image (or "Christlikeness"). When we sin, we grow further and further away from God. On the contrast, when we abide by the Lord's ways, we grow more and more like Him.

Luke 8:13 says that some Christians "believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away."

And Revelation 22:19 says "If anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life, and in the holy city."

These two verses show that God can take away our salvation when we don't act in accordance to Him. When we willfully sin and reject repenting, there are severe consequences.

But I believe the best answer though if for us to simply desire a life of holiness, as exampled by Jesus Christ. This dates back all the way to the Levitical code where it's purpose was for His people to be holy, "for I am holy" (Lev. 11:44). In Christ we find the fulfilled intent of this passage (as it is repeated in I Peter 1:16), in that we must strive to be more like Christ, who was perfect in every way. This does not mean we can achieve perfection, but we should at least try as hard as humanly possible.

Holiness is not really about appearence (as was emphasized so strongly for many years), more than it is about what's in your heart. A mentor of mine described holiness as "showing how much we love God. If we do indeed love Him, we'll want to be like Him and closer to Him."

Meanwhile, the devil is anti-holiness. He wants us to give into lust, anger, drunkenness, etc. because it brings us down to his level, and not closer to the Almighty.

I Peter 5:8,9 says that satan "prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith". We are in constant spiritual warfare and we have to fight back by resisting personal temptations and winning over the lost. When we willfully ignore that, how can we say we're in God's favor?

If we say that our salvation is secure, yet live like hell, then the devil has won us over. Given that God's grace isn't cheap, we should always be sincere in our seeking of forgiveness, as well in our attempt at living more like Christ and less like the world.

Living like Christ is never easy. It's not popular or "cool". But it is right. We have to be aware of this and have a burning desire in our hearts to serve Him by how we choose to live.

Amen!