A Holy Life (not optional)

And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. [2 Peter 2.20-21]

I have written on this passage before. And, what this passage means to me today is no different than the last time I wrote about it!

Somehow, the message of grace has been twisted to allow people to live whatever kind of lives they want, but then get all teary-eyed when thinking of God's "amazing grace" ...and still continue living in sin.

Of course no one admits "willful" sin right? We all wish that the sin in our lives was just our fallen nature on autopilot and out of our control. Is that right? What about clear New Testament teaching about holiness and self-control?

All I know is this: there is a reason the Church today suffers from powerlessness and ineffectiveness in the world. What could it be? From Peter's and Paul's writings, it is very clear that sin is a weight - something that holds us back - something that renders us ineffective. We preach Jesus - but we give ourselves grace beyond that and that self-allowed grace is perhaps presumptuous.

I am not satisfied that we are "okay" living lives that look nothing like Jesus on the earth today. This includes the sin we allow ourselves (claiming "grace") as well as our un-supernatural approach to the circumstances we encounter. We face the same kind of circumstances that Scripture reveals Jesus simply overruled nature and science and performed indisputable miracles in - all the while scolding His followers for not doing likewise!

Today is a call to holiness and Christ-likeness for me (not by my definition of holiness and Christ-likeness, but by the Bible's definition).

Father, forgive me for making myself a god unto myself in allowing myself sin that Your Word never condoned - "grace" or otherwise... Help me to live a holy life.