Christians don’t sin. At least… they shouldn’t. Redemption has immediate effects that turn every Jesus follower into a wonderful human being that no longer suffers from bad thoughts, anger, or the occasional desire to say bad words in traffic or at their computer. We stand out from the rest of the world because we have our moral compasses set and have been endowed with the willpower to never do anything bad ever again.
Of course, I’m being facetious. Clearly, the Christ knew we’d continue to sin, even after meeting Him. Jesus understood that we’d mess up in spite of the sanctification we’d experience in Him. Because of this, our Savior instructed us to pluck out our own eye if it ever caused us to sin (Matt. 18:9). The scary thing about this and cutting our strong-willed, wicked hands off is that everyone could easily see that we were sinners, unless we all ended up blind because we had already gouged our own eyes out.
Here’s the deal though, I have two eyes and both of my hands. I’m not wearing any scarlet letters (did men do that too?) I don’t have track marks on my arms (really wanted to spell that tract… just so you all know) and I don’t look anything like a sinner or a pirate. My attitude may be a little different, as I will undoubtedly explain when people make me mad and I refuse to be happy-go-lucky over stupid garbage. I like to explain my attitude as being accosted by an overwhelming sense of right and wrong. Sometimes, I tell friends that God just endowed me with more righteous indignation than most people. The unintended perception of my occasional expression of contention is that I’m a terrible human. I’m ok with that.
Because frankly, I am.
It’s why I need Jesus.
Holiness comes about as a result of salvation and sanctification. The longer we’re saved, the more we’ll act like Christ- or that’s how it’s supposed to be. This eventual change we experience brings a visible fruit with it. It’s kind of like keeping your eyes and hands. It’s not swearing. It’s not looking over your shoulder when that girl who wasn’t wearing much walks by. It’s staying sober and not fighting. Results like these come about as we get closer to Christ but because we can see them, we can also replicate them without ever changing. It’s one of the worst forms of religion but it’s also what’s expected of any Jesus-person in their Jesus-environment. Not understanding that we don’t necessarily have it together, the world expects just as much from us.
Humility and holiness seem to play well together. The humble man knows his flaws and won’t ignore or hide them for the sake of looking good before his friends and family. Humility may even accelerate the process of sanctification because the first step to fixing a problem is acknowledging that it exists.
Where do you need to become holier? If you don’t know, maybe you need to ask yourself,
“Where am I putting up the most effort to look good?”
This is good Jake. I’m always trying to look good at work and it is definetly where I struggle the most with being kind, keeping my mouth shut when I should, and forgiving others.
Thanks Mandy! I think it’s natural to try to make Christianity attractive by acting like we’re good people. It makes sense when you really get down to it… and we’re trained to do it as well. I have I hard time keeping my mouth shut too…..(Gasp!)
Thanks for the honesty. Well I don’t want to brag, but I am a pretty snappy dresser! NOT! I think you hit the nail on the head with the humility and holiness analogy, not just acting humble but actually thinking in humble terms. Our Savior who has power over the cosmos and everything in it actually lowered himself to the level of a created human as the only perfect sacrifice that could redeem us once and for all, the epitome of humility. Sometimes I make my self sick when I get a little prideful about anything I’m doing in my life that might be worthwhile and then I realize it’s only God’s mercy, grace, and will, that I get to see His hand in any of it. It is a fight in this flesh. Great job my friend.
Thanks Floyd! I think humility touches more aspects of our lives than we know. I think with that, we let God do more than when we think we have our crap together, too. The flesh wants us to look as if we have all our stuff together, you’re entirely correct there, too.
“Where do you need to become holier? If you don’t know, maybe you need to ask yourself, ‘Where am I putting up the most effort to look good?'”
This was probably the most powerful part of your whole post, at least for me. About 3 years ago, God took me through a season of making me pull off all the masks I was wearing – all the ways I was trying to look good and holy and righteous – and just be real. It’s something I struggle with on a daily basis, because everything I’ve learned about following Christ and being in many churches is that, if you want to follow Christ, if you want to be a leader, if you want to make a difference, you have to have your act together.
Thankfully, I lead college students who have struggles as well, and don’t want the fake, holier-than-thou attitude. They have helped me be more real with myself, with others and, most importantly, with God.
Great post bud!
“if you want to be a leader, if you want to make a difference, you have to have your act together.”
BOO. Part of me understands that in order to lead you have to have your crap together so you don’t lead people down the wrong pathways, but at the same time, the “perfect” man has no empathy and might get just as lost trying to navigate around in the real world where broken people and their addictions, hangups and issues abound.
Grace frees us from any pressure to be perfect. We need to remember that but not get caught up in avoiding holiness at the same time.
I love your response to that quote – BOO. haha
I have actually found that the leaders who are honest with their faults and flaws, who aren’t scared of just being who they are even if they don’t have everything together are really the most powerful leaders.
“I don’t have track marks on my arms (really wanted to spell that tract… just so you all know)” – Ha! Awesome.
Putting up an effort to look good is just exhausting. Which is why I pretty much don’t do it. I censor myself a lot, because I know God doesn’t want me saying bad words all the time (even if I say them in my head). I don’t think you have to tell everyone the sordid, ugly details of your life to be real, but if there’s stuff you feel like you need to keep hidden from absolutely everyone, that’s the stuff you probably need to repent from and lay at the cross.
I’m happy you liked my dig. I almost felt bad, then I realized that I didn’t and never could for that 😉
Anyway, you’re right. We don’t run around naked because we can’t share all the nasty details (sordid… BEAUTIFUL WORD– extra points for you, my friend) but there are some things that have to be brought out into the light as well!