Christians live with a freedom the world does not understand. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:8-9). This is a line of thought coursing through the Christian life that is true, but it’s an “easy-button” all too often pushed. It’s a “get out of jail card” if you will. In the letter of 1 John 1:8,10 we are told “if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” and “if we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”
How does this translate to the Christian today?
Maybe you have said this, or perhaps heard it said, “I can’t go a day without sinning,” or “I can’t go an hour without sinning.”
Beginning today, if you are a believer in Jesus, there are three truths I want to challenge you to memorize and embrace. Maybe you need to say them out loud, write them on a note and place it on your bathroom mirror to remind you, or place a notification on your pone to pop up daily for a week. Whatever it takes, begin to memorize, and embrace these three intermingled truths. Here they are:
1. I can walk in holiness!
God calls you not to a life of self-determination but to a life of self-surrender to His Spirit. When you gave your life to Jesus, He filled you with His Spirit. Take a moment and think about this. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead now lives in you! (Romans 8:11). Galatians 5:16 states “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh (NKJV). Throughout God’s Word we are instructed to live by the Spirit. Why is there so much worry and anxiety today? Because people are placing their confidence in the wrong place. Our confidence and obedience should not be in ourselves rather in God’s Spirit. We are called too and can walk in holiness.
2. I don’t have to sin.
This may surprise you, but you do not have to sin. Now, before you scrap this column and use it as fire starter, take a moment and think through this. SIN IS A CHOICE. As stated above, God’s Holy Spirit lives within you. God did not give us a Spirit of fear, but of power, love, and sound judgment (2 Tim. 1:7). Temptation comes to us all, it is when we give audience to the temptation and allow it to take hold of us, this is when sin is born (James 1:14-15). Realize that sin is not a defaulted position for the believer; it’s a choice. Quit choosing sin over righteousness, for we are instructed “He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct” (1 Peter 1:15). The Apostle Paul tells us we have been set free from sin and have become slaves of righteousness (Romans 6:18). You’ll be amazed what this subtle shift of mental preparedness will do in your life.
3. God expects me to be holy.
God not only wants but expects holiness in your life. God wants to bless you with the gift of experiential, everyday walking-in-grace holiness! Yes, you are holy positionally in Christ. Yes, you are called holy because of Jesus’ sacrifice on your behalf. Now, God wants you to live out the holiness that is yours eternally in Christ in your daily walk with him. He wants you to live for him before a world that desperately needs to know Him.
While in Oxford, John Wesley formed a Bible study group, and their intention was to live more and more Christ-like each day. In examining their lives, the group continually developed questions to hold themselves accountable. These questions are still a great tool for the soul seeking to look for areas in which to grow in holiness, and they commonly occur in this form:
1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?
2. Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?
3. Do I confidentially pass on to another what was told to me in confidence?
4. Can I be trusted?
5. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?
6. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
7. Did the Bible live in me today?
8. Do I give it time to speak to me every day?
9. Am I enjoying prayer?
10. When did I last speak to someone else about my faith?
11. Do I pray about the money I spend?
12. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?
13. Do I disobey God in anything?
14. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
15. Am I defeated in any part of my life?
16. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful?
17. How do I spend my spare time?
18. Am I proud?
19. Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisees, who despised the publican?
20. Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I doing about it?
21. Do I grumble or complain constantly?
22. Is Christ real to me?
Understand, you can walk in holiness, you don’t have to sin, and God expects us to be holy. As Christians we need to strive for this every day, but praise God, we have a Father in heaven who is there to pick us up when we fall, when we come up short, when we sin.
