2022_04_08 Insight Post- Emma Keeton
This week’s reading- 1 Thessalonians 3-4
When I read the bible, I have so many questions. Today’s reading from 1 Thessalonians chapters 3 & 4 is no exception! This week I have been contemplating ‘holiness’ and questioning how it fits into my life in this modern world. So many things around me appear to be ‘unholy’ and holiness feels like a rarity. I can grasp being ‘good,’ but being holy is a whole other level. God alone is perfect, yet holiness must be possible because it is God’s will that we should be sanctified (from 1 Thessalonians 4:3). In fact, it seems imperative that we become holy:
“For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being, but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.” 1 Thessalonians 4:7-8.
To be Holy is to be set apart-the exact opposite of something that is common, and it gives us a feeling of purity. If I am not careful, I can slide into trying to become holy out of my own efforts. If I try harder and clean up my behavior, I can be holy for a while, but I would end up with pharisaical thoughts and actions. There must be something else that God has given us to be holy. Holiness is not just about our moral behavior, but it is a love of God that concludes in living as God has intended.
2 Peter 1:3 says: “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.”
It is God’s power by the Holy Spirit living in me that enables me to be holy. Oswald Chambers puts it this way “Holiness is not only what God gives me, but what I manifest that God has given me.”
Prayer
God, help me to desire to be Holy.
Today I ask that I would be so devoted to you that I would begin to reflect your love.
The power of your Holy Spirit living in me is real and I surrender to your ways today God.
Help me to grow in holiness.
In Jesus name.
Emma Keeton
Prayer Team Lead
Reference: Chambers, Oswald. My Utmost for His Highest. Destiny of Holiness, September 1.