Oh, for Holiness!

One of my heroes is David Brainerd, the eighteenth-century pioneer missionary to Native Americans. Brainerd was a man who struggled deeply with sickness, loneliness, harsh working and living conditions, depression, and especially with the corruption remaining in his afflicted heart.

Yet despite his struggling and suffering, he went hard after God in the pursuit of holiness--relentlessly evangelizing among the Indians in Crossweeksung, New Jersey (where dozens were converted), praying, fasting, and studying the Bible.

His passion for holiness was rare. In his journals, he once wrote,

When I really enjoy God, I feel my desires of him the more insatiable and my thirstings after holiness the more unquenchable. . . . Oh, for holiness! Oh, for more of God in my soul! Oh, this pleasing pain! It makes my soul press after God. . . . Oh, that I might not loiter on my heavenly journey!

Oh, that we might imitate Brainerd's faith (Heb. 13:7)! We need a passion for holiness.

Set Apart

The words holy, holiness, sanctification, saints, and sanctify all derive from the same Greek word group. A holy life is . . .

• A life set apart
• A sanctified life
• A life set apart from sin and the world
• A life set apart for God and His glory

Holiness is the calling of every follower of Jesus. As Paul said in his first letter to the Corinthians, we are "sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints" (1 Cor. 1:2).

There is a sense in which every believer in Jesus is already sanctified, as the text above indicates. This is what we might call definitive sanctification or positional holiness.

To be in Christ is to be set apart as holy in Him. He is our life source, whom God made our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30).

But there is another sense in which we are called to live out this holiness in progressive sanctification, in the daily pilgrimage of faith.

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God (2 Cor. 7:1).

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

Transformed

How does this process of becoming holy work? Consider Paul's words in Romans 12:1-2.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Do not be pressed into the world's mold, but be metamorphosized by the remodeling of your thought patterns. That's the idea here.

The word transformed (Gk., metamorphousthe) is the word used in the gospels to describe Christ's transfiguration (cf. Matt. 17:1-9, esp. verse 2). It carries the idea of being changed from the inside out.

In other words, holiness is not a matter of outwardly following some code of ethics. It is the outcome of profound inner transformation in the core of your being. Just as a caterpillar is "morphed" into a beautiful butterfly, so we are being "morphed" into Christ's image as our minds are remodeled and renovated by the Spirit and Word of God.

Killing Sin

But this process of inner transformation still requires taking violent measures against sin. As the Puritan John Owen said, "Be killing sin or it will be killing you." Paul forthrightly says,

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live (Rom. 8:12-13).

Sin must not be allowed to live! Holiness truly involves ruthlessness with the evil of our own hearts. Colossians 3:5-10 is even clearer, giving a detailed list of the attitudes and behaviors that must die:

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 

Not Alone!

The good news is that God has not left us alone in this battle. He has given us His Spirit, and He promises to work within us all that He demands from us.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Phil. 2:12-13). 

Making It Personal

Focus your prayers today on asking God to give you a new desire for holiness. Ask Him to show you the desires, attitudes, and behavioral patterns that still need to be "morphed" into Christ-likeness, and trust Him for grace (both the desire and the power) to kill the sin in your life.