Daily Devotional Theme: No Bare Minimum! Holiness is Not Common.
Scripture: “You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own”. — Leviticus 20:26
Stop being common! Holiness is not common. Have you been reflecting on what is means to be holy at all? Not from the religious standard that are based on manmade beliefs, but based on the Father and what He’s set for us as His people? Do you understand what it actually looks like and how it ties to the fruit that we posses as opposed to everything else?
In today’s devotional, we’ll delve into the fact that Holiness is not common and a breakdown of our role in this walk of Faith in Jesus. We’ll tackle the truth of faith with works, but the emphasis on true transformation and fruit over just mere works and following of laws. This conversation is in alignment with Holy Week and the events of Jesus’ final days and His heart posture and righteous anger towards the Pharisees and their undermining questioning as well as the scene from the money changers outside the temple where He flipped tables. Jesus’ focus was on our true attainment and desire for holiness over a “form of godliness”.
What is Holiness?
Basically, holiness is the reflection of the true nature and character of God. It’s about being “set apart”. It’s also about being completely separate from sin—-exuding a state of moral purity and being dedicated entirely to God. Overall, this is where we align to God’s standard through our lifestyle instead of being like the world.
What Does Holiness Look Like?
When it comes to holiness, there are a few areas that it is reflected such as:
Living righteously + not sinning. While we are human and aren’t perfect, there is a level of transformation that happens as a Believer that causes us to grieve over our sin and live a life of repentance, which when combined with our faith in Jesus [and His blood shed] makes us “righteous” in the eyes of God.
Completely being pure in heart + morale. Yes, both of these two things matter! This goes into Jesus’ commands and teachings of us loving our enemies, giving generously to anyone who’s in need [including our enemies], treating everyone equally and with no respect to man, speaking the truth in love, thinking of others more highly than ourselves, etc. Read Proverbs 11:24-25 + Luke 6:38
Doing everything with excellence + diligence. This is something that God expects from us no matter how small the thing. Why? Because when we do the little things with complete reverence towards God, He adds to that thing and creates something reverential for His Glory. Besides, He is a God of excellence and therefore, if He made us in “His image” then we should reflect His character and nature in all things as well—be it: serving others faithfully, remaining committed when things are hard, Glorifying God with everything we do + giving Him credit, etc. Read Colossians 3: 23-24
Following the laws + guidelines outlined in the Bible. We must remember that the TWO GREATEST commands are “to love the Lord thy God with all your heart, mind, and soul” + “love thy neighbor as thy self”. Just keep in mind that we don’t do this FOR salvation but BECAUSE of it. This is where love influences our actions. Of course, there are many other commandments that Jesus spoke of which fall into this category, so don’t forget to lean into those as well. Read Matthew 5:17
Overall, within all of these areas, being holy allows us to “stand out” from the world and their ways of doing things and being. As a result, we’re able to be the salt of the Earth as Jesus has instructed us to be and actually have POWER to be effective.
Now, when it comes to fruit—–have you reflected on the type of fruit you’re exuding? In case you haven’t read my article on The Fruits + Gifts of the Unholy Spirit [The Devil’s Tactics]—-I recommend! Sometimes, we don’t realize just how much our fruit can be perverted based on the enemy’s wiles.
Exude Human godly Virtues of Christ
As we pursue to look more and more like Jesus, we become transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit and can see the evidence of true fruit and godly virtues which include but are not limited to:
- Fortitude [where we become solid + firm in adversity]
- Faithful
- Hopeful
- Diligent [where we’re steady, earnest, + energetic in effort in pursuing any task or assignment no matter how big or small]
- Enjoy pleasures in moderation + with self-control
- Humility
- Meekness [willing to submit to the will of others, gentle, peaceable, + open to reasoning]
- Loving
- Prudent [where we are wise, careful, + aligned with God’s will]
REFLECTION ON TODAY’S DAILY DEVOTIONAL:
Take some time this week during Holy Week to ask yourself if you’ve really been striving towards holiness or have you taken advantage of the Lord’s Grace based on what Jesus accomplished on the cross?
Secondly, reflect on whether living righteously stretches you in any way or if it keeps you comfortable? This will give enlightenment to whether you really are pursuing the holiness of God or not. In all honestly, have you only treated those who you love well [i.e. family, friends, your circle, etc.] as opposed to those who may treat you poorly or take advantage of you or use you or persecute you or is a flat out enemy? Remember that Jesus said that we get no reward for loving those who love us. It’s in our willingness [and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit] where we can exude unconditional love which mirrors God’s heart.
Let’s take inventory on whether we’ve remained not just obedient in what God has called us to, but have given our best, been faithful with diligence, and with a good attitude. It’s not enough to JUST be obedient without doing things onto the Lord for His Glory and with great faith [we only need faith as small as a mustard seed—remember?].
So with Good Friday being tomorrow, let’s change our heart posture to that which is about the Father’s business—which is being a complete reflection of Him. Less focus on doing our own thing, being successful, worrying about life things, and pursuing relationships that aren’t created by God; and more of loving God through our reverence for Him, loving people [through helping, being compassionate, and correcting], doing everything with excellence so that He can be glorified, and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ—-no matter how small or the method.
While our flesh has it’s own limits/boundaries as it relates to wanting to do the opposite of the things of God, this week [and going forward] we should do ONE thing that reshapes our habits and leans into a godly disciple. Whether it be reading 1 chapter from the Bible each day, listening to at least one worship song without interruption, praying for a few minutes fully present, journaling your feeling to God for 30 minutes, being still for a few minutes without sound or distraction, or whatever; let’s create a “new habit” to override the old habit that feels hard to break. Consistency is key. Faithfulness is required. And if you trip up—-get back up and try again.
The Holy Spirit is there to empower us. To help us. To guide us. To comfort us. To refresh us. To enlighten us. To strengthen us. Lean on Him.
God Bless.
