Page 8 - Inside Report - 1st Quarter 2016

forehead? Those who are saved when Jesus comes will exude you will likely discover the deeper, hidden sins in your heart, like
the holiness of God. Someday the saints will stand on the sea hypocrisy, pride, and selishness. You will realize your natural

of glass and sing,“Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify tendency to put yourself irst, that you will face daily battles

Your name? For You alone are holy” (Revelation 15:4).
against this destructive nature, and—vitally—that you must

surrender to the Lord and continually give those battles to Christ
Called to Holiness
(2 Chronicles 20:15).

The devil, however, wants us to get discouraged over this
The Bible repeatedly summons us to a life of holiness.
The apostle Paul reminds us,“For God did not call us to topic. Perhaps you’ve been in the church for years and don’t

uncleanness, but in holiness” (1 Thessalonians 4:7). Of feel that you’re making any progress. It’s good to be concerned,
but be careful not to become disheartened. Yes, we should be
course, we cannot be holy by our own efforts. Paul also
explained how God “has saved us and called us with a holy growing and making progress in holy living, but remember

calling, not according to our works, but according to His that sanctiication is a process in which there are no shortcuts.
Although we become Christians instantaneously by faith in
own purpose and grace” (2 Timothy 1:9). After the birth of
Christ, it takes time to be fully holy. The book The Acts of the
John the Baptist, God miraculously opened the mouth of his
father, Zacharias, who prophesied how the Lord would “grant Apostles says,“Sanctiication is not the work of a moment, an

us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, hour, a day, but of a lifetime” (p. 560).
Don’t give up. Through the power of God, you and I can
might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness
become holy. The Bible calls John the Baptist “a just and holy
before Him all the days of our life” (Luke 1:74, 75).
Do you have a desire in your life to be holy, pure, and man” (Mark 6:20), and the prophets were often called holy (see

free from sin? That’s the Holy Spirit calling you to holy living. Ephesians 3:5; 2 Peter 3:2). One of the greatest prophets, Elijah,
was described as “a man with a nature like ours” (James 5:17),
When you come to Christ, you become a new creation. You
strive to be more like Christ in every area of your life—in yet he ascended to heaven in a chariot of ire. Holiness is not an

your thinking, in the way you spend your time and money, exclusive club for just a few elite people in Scripture. The Lord
wants all of His children to be holy.
and even in how you eat. God wants you to be holy in every

area of your life. As soon as you are justiied in Christ,
Pursue Holiness
you will have a great yearning to be more like Him.Your

continual desire will be to go further in your walk with God.
Living a holy life is not something you accidentally fall

Your walk with God toward holiness will often begin with into. The Scriptures tell us,“Pursue peace with all people, and
more obvious things in your life. If you’re a thief, you will quit holiness, without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14,

stealing. If you’re an addict, with God’s help you’ll
emphasis added). To pursue something means to follow or

gain victory over illicit drugs. But after time,
chase after it with the intent of capturing it. Developing

a holy character is a relentless lifelong quest. When

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Inside Report 1Q 2016