15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”
As God’s children we are to be holy as He is holy. Here Peter quotes from Leviticus 11:44; but I think we should also consider God’s original plan for man. In His creation He created man and woman in His own image (Gen. 1:27). Hence, we were created with the desire and capacity to be holy, because that is one of the characteristics of God.
Though we aren’t in heaven yet, God will send us small tastes of heaven. The more you connect yourself with God through His Spirit by prayer and meditation on His word, and by your personal holiness and obedience, the more you will be blessed and will taste of all of the spiritual blessings He has given us (Eph. 1:3).
I love what Paul says in Colossians 3:1-3.
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Let me go through this passage and comment briefly. In verse one Paul instructs the believer to “keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” He is talking about heaven isn’t he? We are to “keep seeking” those things in heaven.
What does he mean by this? How are we to do it? Well, verse two gives us his answer. We are to set our mind on the things above (on heaven where Christ is) instead of on all the things down here on this earth.
In verse three Paul continues with this thought. He is giving us the reason why we are not to set our mind on things of this earth: it is because we have died to our old life and have been raised up with Christ to a new life with Him. Our real life now is in Christ in God. That is to say, everything that gives us real meaning in life is in the Christ life. Our real home now is with Christ in heaven.
So how do we actually taste of heaven? I would say anything that brings the life of Christ into us is how we taste of heaven—because heaven is really enjoying the life of Christ. Here are five ways that we can taste of heaven:
Obey Christ in everything. Remember that obeying Him is loving Him.
Pursue holiness. The more we stop sinning the more we will see God (Matt. 5:8).
Stay in prayer. Prayer is our connection to God.
Fellowship with other believers. The more we love and encourage them in the Lord the more He will bless us—satisfy us with His love.
Worship together. Praise to God is most blessed and satisfying when we do it together.
I laid in my bed last night waiting to fall asleep, and I couldn’t think what to pray for. What is my prayer request to God? I didn’t have any difficult jobs coming up to pray about. I don’t feel particularly fearful about anything. I’m good I guess. After an hour or so, still not asleep, it came to me. I will pray for a desire for godliness and holiness. Yes, It I can’t think what to pray for, I must be lacking in godliness and a desire for it. I am certainly not so good that I don’t need prayer. I most definitely need prayer—I need to be more like God. I eventually found a passage in Ephesians 5:1-4 that fit my case.
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; 2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
3 But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; 4 and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.
I don’t know why, but I have never thought of lying as a really bad sin—such as murder or adultery. I remember when I was little and told a lie; I really didn’t think it was that bad or that anyone would be hurt by it. I couldn’t understand why my mom and dad thought it was so bad and why they told me that I should never tell a lie.
Well, as the years went by, I grew to understand why it was bad and how you can really get yourself into trouble over it. Yet some people never get that understanding. They still say, what’s the harm in a little white lie? I have heard people say that lying is just part of life; everybody does it.
In my study of heaven, in three different verses where God is describing the glory and holiness of heaven, it also emphasized who would not be allowed in heaven—those sinners who would end up in hell. Here are those verses:
Revelation 21:8
8 “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Revelation 21:27
27 and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Revelation 22:15
15 Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.
Notice that in each of the verses, those who are liars are on the list (bold for emphasis). Hence, those who practice lying will definitely be disqualified from heaven. I know lying is bad, but I found myself still wondering why it made this list. Why would lying disqualify one from heaven? Here are a few ideas I came up with—reasons why lying is so bad:
It is deceptive and seeks to deceive others.
It is against truth and righteousness—which is what heaven is.
Lying is the beginning of corruption and the basis of it.
Lying is a political sin: it seeks to win self and makes self look good. It will take down and corrupt a whole nation.
It begins in the life of a child and if not corrected will form the life and corrupt that entire life.
It is of the devil. He is the greatest liar, and like the devil will pervert the whole life and the life of many others.
It cannot be allowed in heaven or else all of heaven with its truth would be corrupted. For this reason, liars must be kept in hell forever.
Who are the liars?
They must be found out and stopped. The courts must try to reveal them. It is so important for a continuing and lasting society. I would say that it is important to find and cut off lying in one’s own life as well as in the leadership of cities and countries. But it must start in my life. If we can’t recognize it in our life, how can we see it in others. Judges must esp. be able to see and stop it—and to punish it severely. It must be seen as a terrible evil.
First of all we should discuss why we should hallow His name?There are several reasons to hallow His name. Two reasons stand out to me. First, the most obvious reason is because He deserves it. He is God and He is holy; therefore we ought to treat Him as holy. He is the one that is high and lifted up. Hence we ought to cry out daily (in our mind or even verbally) as the angels do, saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory” (Is. 6:1-3).
A second reason to treat God as holy is so that others around us will treat Him as holy, and likewise, believe and obey Him. For when we show God (or anyone) respect, others who observe us will tend to follow our example (Heb. 13:7). But when we disrespect God…
The nature of holiness is that it is not satisfied to be in just one area. It wants to penetrate into all areas; it wants to purify the whole; as light it wants to brighten every corner and crack. In this study of personal holiness, I want to discuss every possible area of holiness in our lives—complete holiness. As I see it, there are generally two areas of personal holiness: outer holiness, or holiness in the body, and inner holiness, or holiness in the mind and the spirit.
HOLINESS IN MIND AND SPIRIT
These areas of our inner being must be considered of primary importance when it comes to holiness; for without holiness in these areas, the outer body will neither be holy.
The mind.The mind is that place from where we think and reason and imagine. And though we believe that these things originate in the brain…
This post on sexual purity is part of my category on holiness. I wrote it over ten years ago and is an excerpt from my book on prayer. We all need this more than ever these days.
Some would say, “It is impossible these days to keep your eyes pure, because there is so much pornography out there; we see it practically everywhere we go.” But I want to tell you that with God’s help, and with practice, it is a battle that can be won!
In this post we will talk about how people get trapped into viewing pornography, then about its results, and last, about how to fight against it.
How People Get Trapped Into Viewing Pornography
The reason why people (both men and women) get trapped into viewing pornography is because they have not been warned against it, and they are unprepared to face it. Satan comes against them as an angel of light to deceive them and trap them, and as a roaring lion to devour them. And the reason why they continue in it is because they find…
The practice of meditating on the Word will be most beneficial for right thinking, because when you are meditating on the scriptures your mind is occupied with right thoughts. And the scriptures will also guide you in what else to think about in the world besides the scriptures. One of the passages that specifically tell us that is Philippians 4:8. Here Paul outlines for us seven things we should think about; or I think we could also look at it as seven qualities or virtues we should seek out and think about in different things in the world, such as in people, books, movies, and institutions.
But we are not to just casually think over them; the word translated “think on” or “meditate on” (logizesthe), suggests more than just thinking. The word actually means to take inventory, to reason, to reckon, and to esteem. Adam Clark suggests that…
1. Practice consecration with prayer.Consecration is the act of giving ourselves completely to God through prayer for His will and service, recognizing that our life and all that we have is His. E.M. Bounds has said: “Prayer enters into every phase of a consecrated life…Consecration is really the setting apart of one’s self to a life of prayer.”
And how does all this affect holiness? If affects it directly and in every aspect. We cannot be holy without it. Why? Because consecration is that which prepares the heart for holiness. It is the act of giving ourselves to God by bringing our desires in line with His, thus by making our attitude right before him. Moreover, by consecration we both prepare ourselves for holiness and we enter into that holy life. A holy life in every phase is a life of consecration with prayer.
Holiness is a process, which means that it takes time and continual effort. It doesn’t happen all at once. It is a process of transformation by renewal (Rom. 12:2). Renewal starts with the mind and then works into the character. The objective of renewal is always to renew the whole person: spirit, mind and body (complete renewal, however, will come after this life on earth; read 1 Cor. 15:51).
Have you ever seen an old building being renovated? All the old rotten material is removed and new material is put in its place. Sometimes it is found that the entire building must come down and be replaced. And so it would be a process of starting over. That is the picture of what renewal is. It is a renovation process. The old comes out and the new is put in its place. Hence, with us, all uncleanness and…
First of all we should discuss why we should hallow His name? There are several reasons to hallow His name. Two reasons stand out to me. First, the most obvious reason is because He deserves it. He is God and He is holy; therefore we ought to treat Him as holy. He is the one that is high and lifted up. Hence we ought to cry out daily (in our mind or even verbally) as the angels do, saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory” (Is. 6:1-3).
Stephen Nielsen 