CALLED
UNTO HOLINESS
Memorise:
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to
them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute
you; Matthew 5:44
Read:
Matthew 5:43-48, Bible in one year: 2nd Chronicles 23:16-25:13, Luke
24:36-53
The call to salvation is a call to
holiness. The day you were invited to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour,
you were automatically called to a life of holiness. The Bible in 1st
Thessalonians 4:7 says:
“For
God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness”
Have you responded to this call? The
reason why many Christian leaders are heading for Hell today is because they
have not answered the call to holiness. This ingredient is so indispensable to the
Christian faith that having salvation without holiness is like leaving the
substance and taking the chaff that can be easily blown away. Without
sanctification, the salvation experience may not know stability. The accounts
for the rising-and-falling syndrome being experienced by many Christians. When
you are sanctified after receiving Christ into your heart, your faith in Christ
is given the strong roots it needs. Hence, when the winds of affliction,
temptation, persecution and other challenges of life blow, your faith in Christ
will be unshaken, because it is deeply rooted. While the experience of
salvation is akin to cruising in God’s shallow waters, experience
sanctification is like launching out into the deep oceans of God’s nature. You
need this experience!
When you are sanctified, you will have
control over your emotions. If you have been battling with lust and sexual
sins, ask God for a sanctified heart and you will overcome. Do you know that
many leaders still have problems with anger? When they are angry, they can
destroy just about anything. They become filled with rage and behave
irrationally. What they need is sanctification. When you are holy, you are not
easily provoked. In fact, after several failed deliberate attempts to make you
angry, people will wonder whether you can ever get annoyed. If you are
sanctified, you will find it impossible to cheat anyone, how much more your
fellow Christian Brother. With a sanctified heart, you will easily forgive your
persecutors like Stephen and Jesus did. You will make excuses for those who
fall below your expectations. You will have grace to love the unlovable, and
pray for those who spitefully use you. When Jesus gave the instruction in
today’s reading, He was actually calling us to holiness. Have you accepted this
call? Have you received a new heart?
Prayer point
Father,
as I renew my mind with Your Word, sanctify me wholly that I may live to please
You.
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