Called to be Holy

1 Corinthians 1:2 says:
"I am writing to God's church in Corinth, to you who have been called by God to be His own holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus, just as He did for all people everywhere who call on the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours." NLT

Living a holy life is a recurrent theme in the New Testament. We are God's own holy people. The word holy means: "set apart, sanctified, consecrated. Chaste, pure. Its fundamental ideas are separation, consecration, devotion to God,, and sharing in God's purity and abstaining from earths defilement." (1)

Other verses in the NT such as Romans 15:16 "I am a special messenger from Christ Jesus to you Gentiles. I bring you the Good News so that I might present you as an acceptable offering to God, made holy by the Holy Spirit." These are just 2 verses, there are many more. You can find them in the Bible by looking up the word holy.

The way God made us holy is by means of Christ Jesus, our Savior. And Him alone.

In the Old Testament, the way to be holy was by keeping the whole law and all it entailed. (Although still by faith, as Abraham's life testified of)

Today we are made holy by believing in Jesus Christ, becoming new creatures, (born again) and then walking in the Spirit by faith. (God graciously pours out His Spirit in each of our hearts).

Since Jesus kept the whole law perfectly, when He died for us, He took the punishment that we deserved. We deserve to die for our sins, but He died instead. God accepted His offering for our sins. By God accepting Jesus as the perfect Lamb who was sinless, when we believe in Him, God accepts us because we are in Christ. So, because of Jesus, we are dead to sin and alive to walk in a holy manner. Its like when the Isralites had to put the blood of the perfect lamb on the door post of their homes, so they would be saved. I like to think of it as believing in Jesus puts His blood in my heart. God sees Him, not me. God sees the blood, the perfect sacrifice.

We, as Christians, need to look at ourselves as who the Bible says we are. It says "He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus, just as He did for all people everywhere who call on the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours."

If you believe in and called upon Jesus Christ as your Savior, if you have confessed your sins, if Christ Jesus has purified you and made you dead to sin, if you rose to a new life with Christ, then you are a holy child of Gods. You are a born again, spirit filled person. You are one of God's holy children.

This is such a freeing message. When I started thinking of myself this way, I was totally set free.

This doesn't mean that I have not "sinned" and fallen at times. Being born again and made holy by Jesus Christ is only the beginning. The start of a new life. A life of, as Ephesians calls it, "putting off the old and putting on the new". It is a process, I am always putting off Joni and her worldy ways, and putting on Jesus Christ and His holiness by His power that is at work in me. This takes a life time for sure. But I am no longer under condemnation.

Romans 8:1 says "So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to Him the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death"

To some of you this may be old news, but there are many "Christians" who are always beating themselves up and falling into the sin of unbelif in God's Word. They are stuck thinking that they are never going to measure up. We do not need to measure up. We need to grow in our relationship with God and Jesus Christ. John 17:3 says that this is eternal life.

Knowing that you have been made holy, and that the power of sin that leads to death no longer has a hold on you, is amazing! Because of this sin is a choice now. You are no longer under the "pull" of the devil. This is something all of us need to remember on a daily basis.


(1) Zodhiates

More later.