Weathering the Storms of Life A Six-Part Series

Part Five

 

Strengthening Yourself by Seeking Holiness and Purity

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

1 Peter 1:15-16

“But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”

 

Ephesians 4:22-24

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

 

When a storm of life hits it is very important you make sure you are in a right relationship with the Lord and that you stay that way. Sometimes storms of life come because we helped cause them. If we contributed to the storm in any way, we should confess our part and ask for forgiveness. We can be assured that if we confess our sins God will forgive us of them (1 John 1:9). This gives us a clean heart and clean standing before our Heavenly Father. It purifies our relationship with Him so that we can begin dealing with the issues, struggles and trials that will take place in our storm of life. If you are unsure if you were partly the cause for the storm, pray honestly to God and He will reveal any of your shortcomings. Wise counselors can also be helpful in evaluating this as well. If we are innocent of any wrongdoing in the cause of the storm, we need to confess any anger or bitterness we have towards others for causing the storm or that we might have towards God for allowing the storm to take place.

 

Despite the cause of the storm, God uses the trials of life to bring us to a deeper commitment and faith in Him. While we should always be seeking holiness and purity in our Christian walk, too often we become apathetic, lazy or complacent. God wants us to live passionately for Him and there are times when He allows a storm to shake up our complacency and apathetic attitude.

 

The best way to cope with a storm of life is to make sure we are in a good relationship with our Lord and growing in our faith. This results from dramatically seeking a dedicated life of holiness and purity. There are numerous benefits of seeking and pursuing holiness and purity in our Christian life. I would like to list just a few that I thought of.

 

1. It gives us a clear conscience

 

2. It creates a healthy spiritual life

 

3. It builds a strong relationship with God that is needed to get through the storm

 

4. It gives you peace and focus

 

5. It gives you a clear and God-centered mind to be able to make good decisions

 

6. It prevents any contribution on your part to making the storm worse

 

7. It gives you better spiritual discernment to see how God is working His will

 

8. It serves as an example to others of how to weather a storm of life

 

9. It grows your faith so that you can minister to others in need

 

10. It builds your sensitivity to those who are suffering in storms around you

 

11. It’s what we are called to do as Christians

 

 

Charles Haddon Spurgeon gives five priorities that might encourage us to pursue holiness.

 

They are first “repent of past failures in holiness.”

 

Secondly “make the law of God’s house our earnest study.”

 

Thirdly, “be intensely real in your endeavor to observe God’s Word.”

 

Fourthly, “let us cry for a sincere and growing faith in God concerning this matter of holiness.”

 

Lastly, “let us pray to be set on fire with an intense zeal for God.”

 

WHAT IS HOLINESS?

 

The famous prince of preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon had a lot to say about holiness. One such quote is as follows:

 

“Morality is a clean outside, but holiness is being clean within. Morality is a dead body washed and laid in clean white linen; holiness is the living form in perfect purity. To be just to man is morality, to be hallowed unto God is holiness. The church of God must not be reputedly good, but be really pure. She must not have a name for virtue, but her heart must be right before God – she must have a clean inside. Our lives must be such that observers may peep within doors and see nothing for which to blame us. Our moral cleanliness must not be like that of a housewife who sweeps the dirt under the mats.”

 

What Spurgeon is saying is that there is an outward appearance of holiness that does not always match up to our inward spiritual condition. People may be fooled by our appearance of holiness but God knows our hearts and minds and knows in specific detail the spiritual condition of our lives. Bill Hybels wrote a book called, “Who You Are When No One’s Looking.” The title of the book says a lot. Who are you “really” when no one is watching you? How holy are you in your thought life? How passionate are you about seeking holiness?

 

The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary defines holiness as, “a general term used to indicate sanctity or separation from all that is sinful, impure, or morally imperfect.”

 

GOD’S HOLINESS

 Isaiah 6:1-5

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.’ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. ‘Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.’”

 

Here we see Isaiah describe a vision he had of God being worshipped for His holiness. God’s holiness is perfect and pure. It may be impossible for us to completely understand God’s holiness, but possibly one way we could understand the holiness that we are called to is to consider the fruits of the Spirit. In Galatians 5:22-24 it says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” The fruits of the Spirit represent the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in us when we submit to God and seek to be holy and pure. As we seek to be holy as God is holy the fruits of the Spirit will be evidenced in our thought life and in our actions. As we are filled with the Spirit we will become more holy and will not only be able to withstand the blows and beatings in a storm of life, we will also be able to minister to others.

 

BECOMING HOLY IS A TASK SHARED BY GOD AND US

 

Seeking holiness and purity is a task shared by God and us. We can’t do it on our own and God won’t force us to be holy without our cooperation. There are several verses that show us that part of the responsibility for becoming more holy and pure is God’s.

 

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”

 

Hebrews 13:20-21

“May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

 

There are other verses that illustrate that if we are going to become more spiritually holy that we must fulfill our part of the responsibility.

 

Leviticus 11:44

“I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.”

 

Hebrews 12:14-15

“Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”

 

1 John 3:3

“Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.”

 

Spurgeon explains this verse by saying, “While we do not believe that any man actually purifies himself, yet the text (1 John 3:2-3) states that ‘every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself.’ We believe that the Holy Ghost purifies sinners by applying to them the precious blood of Jesus. We look to God for all purity, believing that He is the Creator of it. Still, the text also states that God the Holy Spirit so works in every man who has a true hope, that he labors to become purified and uses all possible means to overcome sin and to walk in righteousness. When a man has a true hope in Christ, he begins to purify himself by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

 

An excellent verse that combines both of these responsibilities together is Philippians 2:12 “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”

 

Charles Spurgeon says it this way, “Albeit sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit, yet it is equally true that the Holy Spirit makes us active agents in our own sanctification. In the first work of regeneration, doubtless the soul is passive because it is dead, and the dead cannot contribute to their own quickening; but, being made alive, He ‘worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure’ (Philippians 2:13). God’s good pleasure is answered by us when we are constrained to will and to do; hence the apostle’s argument, ‘Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you’ (Philippians 2:12-13). He works it in, you work it out; you have to bring out in the outward life what He works in the inner springs of your spiritual being. You are to work it out because He works it in.”

 

“You can’t get holy in a hurry — but you start taking steps in that direction right away. Beg God, “Put within me some holy motivation.”

Malcom Cronk

 

May you seek holiness in the midst of your storm and see the power of God transform and heal you.