I want to revisit the second part of that benediction I told you about previously – “Watch and pray. Live holy everyday.” Can you say that you have lived holy – in righteousness – right thinking, right speaking, and right believing, all day to the best of your ability?

It’s time out for carrying the gloomy cloud that you are not good enough for the Kindgdom. It is possible to live holy and know it. We sing if you’re happy and you know it, say Amen. God wants you to be able to say you are holy and you know it. Then he challenges us to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Not fronting our holiness and flaunting our airy noses toward others who we assume are not as holy as we are.

Get one thing straight. I am trying my best to walk in holiness; but I am not perfect and all have sinned and come short of the glory of GOD (Romans 3:23).

Holiness is a lifestyle. Yes. You can live it. While you are learning, find a good Shepherd for your soul. Here is a message adapted from 365 Seeds of Promise:

Get The Big Picture

OVERVIEW

Memory Verses: Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. Ecclesiastes 9:10 | Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days. Ecclesiastes 11:1 | In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.  Ecclesiastes 11:6 | Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; Ecclesiastes 12:1

Related Reading: Jeremiah 11 – 14

THE MESSAGE

9 And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs. 10 The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth. Ecclesiastes 12:9-10

We know that there is corruption in the world. This is a major reason why even the just sometimes have tribulation. But it is not for us to cast away our confidence (Hebrews 10:35) in the Lord’s sovereignty, or His ability to deliver, or our worth to Him.

You have read that our righteousness is but filthy rags in comparison to His holiness. At this Word you have given up on being holy, since it would seem that no matter what you did, you would not be able to live the standard that God requires. The Lord said, not so.

It is not the will of God that any should perish. Why then would He make request of the impossible? If man could not under any circumstance be obedient to the will of God, then would God be an unjust master – asking for that which could not be performed and also providing judgment for the lack of fulfillment. But do not be deceived. God is not unjust – for then would righteousness be of no consequence. But there is a reward for both good and evil, according to it’s worth.

And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible. Mark 10:27

Remember the word “COMPARISON.” God weighs all things in the balance. This is the reason why a widow’s mite given even from her lack of abundance, could be more acceptable in His sight than the offering of a wicked ruler who out of His (or her) abundance offers little in COMPARISON to all that is available to him (or her) (though the gift may seem as much to those who have little IN COMPARISON). This does not mean that God compares us to other people. He compares our own doings to our own capabilities and our own possibilities and our own knowledge of the truth.

Who could be worthy in comparison to God? Surely not so without conscious effort. The natural man (or woman) can not be holy without the Father of holiness; and this connection we have by choice. If we so choose not to honor it, it will be loosed and there will rise our point of failing. And we should be mindful that we can not exceed our creator from heaven, as a student may sometimes excel a teacher on this earth – it is not so with God. So we know that we need Him in order to will and to do His commandments.

We are to check and balance our goings, as the constant correction of an aviator, to keep us on the path He has predestined. Thus we COMPARE our thoughts and actions to the thoughts and actions of Christ. This is the “What would Jesus Do?” that we answer with learning what He did and letting His mind be in us for constant divine mentoring from Him. If each of us would do this, both envy and strife would cease. It is measuring ourselves against others that is the root of jealousy and division. And a little competitiveness without ruling the spirit, will easily become an unhealthy competition. When we honor Christ, we can both rejoice with them that do rejoice and also be content with such as we have.

We see that holiness is a choice. We understand that the mode of choosing otherwise is thriving in the world; and since they who walk therein do sometimes not “surely die” (as was said of the serpent to Eve), it seems that those who would do the truth but instead do wrestle (with the context of popularity, or self-expression, or just plain curiosity among other things), ask the question forthright, “Why should I serve God?

Like as you were not created in a vacuum, but have ancestors before you, everything is linked to something else. Choosing not to serve God is not just a rejection of God Himself. It is a choice to receive all that is not Him. Though you may not want these tag-along extras, it is a principle of God. Likewise, choosing to serve Him is a choice to receive all that He is. So, get the big picture.

Avoiding the promise of God because of one or even a list of things we don’t like about holiness (and we speak of the lifestyle not the title), is simply the enemy’s prevailing diversion, holding us at bay from the unsearchable (meaning you don’t even have enough words in the entire language of your tongue to write out a list long enough to cover all points of reckoning if you were to make a list of all of the benefits of God) riches of Christ. Thus, not choosing God is “choosing” spiritual poverty when God is offering wealth of Spirit that is priceless beyond measure. The day you truly understand what is being offered by God, it sounds quite ridiculous that anyone would say to the Almighty God is able both to promise and to fulfill it, “No thanks. I’ll keep the hat and try to pull a rabbit out. Maybe I’ll get lucky.” Rather than that, why not just receive the key from the one who made the door.

A Word on Forgiveness

When we say, bless and curse not, it is not to undermine the fact that someone hurt you without cause. It is not to belittle the pain that you have experienced. It is not to excuse the evil that has been done or its wicked merchant. It is to protect you. For we know not the day or the hour when the wicked may find that place of repentance – to which we have also come; and there be received with a contrite heart (and as such shall be unworthy of the curse of our lips – for which we will reap the Word if we do not repent. And there we will have given power over us that should not be relinquished to the wicked).

God never said, “Do not have an emotion about anything.” Rather we are instructed even in anger to sin not (Ephesians 4:26). Yet and if we stand not still, we release ourselves from inheriting the promise that the Lord will fight our battles. That does not mean do nothing. It means seek God for what to do. His infinite vision is able to see beyond the actions we would take. He knows what the outcome would be, though the mind in an angry cloud sees only the moment of fog.

We certainly have names to call before God for judgment if that were our goal. But we who are also not innocent in every second past, must not be hasty to reward evil lest we also get what we deserve. And that Christ should take our guilt was not what we had earned in this life; but love covers a multitude of fault.

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ECCLESIASTES 12:13-14

13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

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