“Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.” (Hebrews 12:14-15 NLT)
How we live our lives as a Jesus follower matters more than we realize. I remember when I was still in High School, shooting baskets alone at a local park. I noticed another student watching and as I left the park he said to me: “I’m watching you!” At first, I wondered why he would be watching me. Surely, it wasn’t because I was good at basketball, then it registered: He’d heard I’d given my life to Jesus and was now seeking to walk with Him. Perhaps he had known how I lived and wondered if I’d really changed.
Others are watching our lives whether we choose to believe it or not, some hoping we’ll fall and fail, but others – I suspect many others, are hoping we won’t so they might have someone to follow, someone to believe in. The reality is, before our family and friends will ever believe in Jesus they have to learn to believe in us. If they are ever going to allow the Lord to change them, they must see He has the power to change us.
Another vital reason we must live a life separated and set apart for the Lord is we’re not the only ones who will suffer if we don’t. Pastor Corky Calhoun reminds us: “The church always reaps collectively what we sow personally.” Too often we brush off our sloppy, worldly behavior wrongly believing it’s private and personal and it won’t matter to anyone but God, but that’s just not true. It matters to US; it changes US when we disobey the Lord and ignore its implications to the Body.
Stub your little toe and try to believe it doesn’t hurt your whole body. Or get a splinter in your little finger. Every time you touch something with that finger your whole-body screams. Every ripple in the Body of Christ has eternal implications for the one who sees us misbehaving or doing something that even a nonbeliever knows is unpleasing to the Lord. We must not make it easy for someone to look at us and say: “If that’s what a Christian is, I don’t want anything to do with Christ or His Church. They’re just a bunch of hypocrites!”
“Yeh, but even as believers we’re not perfect. We still do fall. We still do fail.” Yes, while that’s true, it doesn’t have to be characteristic of our daily behavior. The men and women of God that I know aren’t perfect, but their lifestyles are still above reproach. What does that mean? It means their flaws, the things of which they’re most ashamed and embarrassed before the Lord, aren’t open sins that affect other people, but inward issues with which we wrestle knowing we’re accountable even for our thoughts. Our aim, judgment, our whole intention, is to live pleasingly before the Lord so as not to embarrass Him by our misconduct in front of unbelievers. And when we fail, we must be quick to apologize and make it right.
How is that even possible? Keep short accounts with the Lord. Sin begins in our mind, so when we have an evil or wrong thought, nip it in the bud and seek forgiveness before it manifests itself in wrong behavior. Or we say something to someone out of anger, but rather than let it fester, we must immediately confess our sin and ask forgiveness. Spirit-led living means dependence upon the Spirit in every circumstance. Oswald Chambers helps us when he writes: “When it is a question of God’s almighty Spirit, never say, ‘I can’t.’” Remember the words of Paul when he wrote in Philippians 4:13: “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” Even get up after I fall!
If the Lord asks something of us, He will, by His Spirit, enable us to do it! He’s asking us to live a life of personal holiness to His glory and honor, and by His grace that’s exactly what we’ll do! Can I hear an Amen!
Blessings, Ed 😊
