Doing our part

Doing Our Part

I left my last post feeling as if I was making holiness a light thing, I assure you I was not.  Rather, I  was showing how God wants us to come to Him the way we are so that He can complete the work He started in us.  “…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 1:6 NKJV

God is Holy.  He wants us to be Holy, as we see in the scriptures.   He desires this so we can have fellowship with Him. 

If we long for this relationship with Him, we must be willing to do our part.  See the dark and the light cannot inhabit the same space just as something cannot be cold and hot at the same time.   We are allowing his work in our lives, or we are not.  We are set apart, or we are not.   “Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” 2 Corinthians 7:1, emphasis added.

Work with Him

If we are allowing God to change us,  then we are listening to Him and abstaining from the things He wants us to abstain from; AND partaking of the things he is asking of us.  For example, I’ll talk about my habit of smoking cigarettes again.   As I mentioned in a previous post, I came to Jesus smoking cigarettes, among many other things.  It took me 4 years after giving my heart to Him to quit.  I tried stopping a few times.  Not because I felt guilty about smoking, but because I felt his displeasure with my doing it. 

When I was a teenager and my mom learned I was smoking cigarettes, she was not pleased.   She didn’t get angry or yell at me, she made a face.  And simply said, “you’re smoking now?”   I felt her displeasure.  I quit, for a couple of months.  Then peer pressure got to me and I started again.  I hid it from her.   It was the same with God, but I knew I couldn’t hide it.  During the 4 years between giving my life to Jesus and quitting smoking, I grew a lot in spirit.  Other addictions and bad habits were released from my life.  But then suddenly, my spiritual growth came to a standstill. When I prayed about it,  I knew the answer.

I knew exactly what it was.  However, I struggled with it. At the same time, I also desired to quit.  Only with His help, one-half day at a time, I was set free from the bondage of cigarette addiction.    This may sound overly dramatic, it’s just cigarettes you may be thinking.   But it is an example of how God works in our lives.   He wants to give us more and more.  In order for us to receive what He is giving we need to make room for Him.  “He must become greater; I must become less.”  John 3:30  

Make room for more

We have to do our part friend.   It’s time to make room for him in our lives.  Clear out the darkness, let the light come in.  That is Holiness.  How do we make room in our hearts for more of  Him?   No one said that life as a Christian was supposed to be easy.  Giving up habits and things that we have become accustomed to on this earth can be hard.  If we want to see God move in our lives, we must ask if there is anything we are holding back from Him.  Is the thing worth it?  Is it worth not experiencing all that God has for us?   It is not about being legalistic; it’s about being holy and set apart.   What God has for us is better than anything this world has to offer. 

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.”  Romans 12:2 NKJV