They will teach my people the difference between what is holy and what is common, what is ceremonially clean and what is unclean.
Seems to me today that there aren't any voices (or at least I am not aware of any) that are speaking about what is holy in our society and what isn't. We seem to have adopted a "don't ask, don't tell" attitude about what is and isn't acceptable for those who are believers. You won't hear a lot of messages about purity and holiness. Why? Because it infringes upon our liberty. The one statement that I hold to is one that I heard years ago. Liberty and freedom does not give you the right to do what you want to do.......if affords you the opportunity to do what you ought to do.
Could it be that the reason we don't want to call sin what it actually is, is because we harbor it in our lives? Maybe our sin is the kind that we keep down in the darkness of our soul, and wish for no one to know about it. Maybe the reason we don't want to talk about it is because we aren't real sure about our own salvation. Believe you me, I have lived in this place. The greatest day of my life was when the Holy Spirit assured me of my salvation, but at the same time required me to live in a different manner. Separate myself from that which was unpleasing to my Father. Run from lust of any type. side note: lust doesn't simply fall under a sexual category- it can be attached to material things, or ever relationships.
I guess you could say that the greatest day of my life was when I discovered the real meaning of grace and what it was given to me for. I grew up under the impression that grace was the unmerited favor of God. God giving me something I did not deserve. But that can't possibly be the definition of grace., because we read in Galatians about "falling away" from grace. How can you possibly fall away from something that was given to you in the first place not based on merit or you having earned it. No----grace is a force-----grace is a power----grace truly is God's gift to us.
So here is the definition of grace that I learned many years ago:
Grace is the empowering presence of God in my life that enables me to be who God created me to be.....and to do what God has called me to do.
We somehow have the idea that because we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us we can take the attitudes and behaviors of the world and turn then into things that are Holy before God. I don't believe that is the way it works.
Think on this today-----Are there things in your life that are displeasing to God? Do you try and justify your actions under the guise of God's grace?
Seek that which is holy and cut off that which isn't.
Matthew 6:33 tells us to seek first (above all things) the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. We have been called to search for (not that it is hidden all that well) the rule and reign of God in our lives. I think this would fall under the category of turning will and life over to the care of God as we understood Him to be. That, my friend, is the beginning of life.
God on you...........
mb
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