Holiness Is Joy

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.  1 Peter 2:11. 

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
1 Peter 1:14-16.

For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. 
1 Peter 2:25. 

Holiness=peace and joy. 
Unholy passion=suffering. 

Define holiness:  It is an attribute of God. He is completely and utterly without sin and the result is goodness. He is immutable and never ceases to be holy.  As we abide in him and he in us we partake of his holiness and become set apart as his worshippers and servant/friends from one degree to another as we are in the process of sanctification.  

Martin Luther viewed God's grace (and therefore God's holiness), as an invasion of the life. Actions that demonstrated holiness would spring up, not premeditated, as the believer focused more and more on his or her relationship with Christ. This was the life of faith, according to Luther; a life in which one recognizes that the sin inherent in human nature never departs, yet Grace invades each human spirit and draws each person after Christ.

Gods invasion in my life=personal and practical holiness. 

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. Psalm 119:9

 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.  Psalm 119:11

When God Speaks Your Language

Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross.  It read, “Jesus of Nazereth, the King of the Jews.”  Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek.  So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘the King of the Jews’, but rather, ‘this man said I am King of the Jews.’”  Pilate answered “what I have written I have written.”  (John 19:19-22)

And he said( thief on the cross next to Jesus), “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”  Luke 23:43

What I find so striking in these texts is the fact that God uses Pilate who can care less about Jesus, to point people to Jesus, by making a sign that was simply meant to mock the Jews by saying, “as the king goes, so go the people.”  In the Luke 23 account the sign which was written in the three languages is connected to the thief on the Cross saying, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  The Lord used Pilate to make a sign that a thief on a cross could read and it would even speak his language. 

Yesterday, I bought a book which happened to be the book the Lord used in my life at 18 years old to completely turn my life around.  The book gives a simple down to earth explanation of the cross of Christ.  There’s nothing spectacular about the book but the fact that it absolutely speaks my language.  I was on a plane when I read it, and it was Christmas break.  The book starts out with both illustrations of Christmas shopping and flights in describing the gospel.  What are the chances that I would randomly grab a book off a shelf, actually have the money to buy it (college life), and then actually read it?  I am an ADD poster child by nature and the chances of me reading a book, let alone a book about the gospel is mind-boggling.  God spoke my language. 

What language is He speaking to you?  I am not talking about dialect but the day to day drama of your life.  How is God making known to you the truth of the gospel in your language?  How is He bringing the truths of the Bible into your heart?  Are you listening? There were two thieves around Jesus that day as He hung on the cross, yet there was only one who understood the sign.  We have the greatest sign ever—the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  May we pay close attention to what God is speaking to us today.