Holiness, a list of ‘do-nots’ or a divinely enabled life?

Holiness, that’s probably a word you hear about a fair wee bit in church. Many of our songs speak about God’s holiness. Preachers describe God as holy, and rightly so. But how often do we talk about, sing about or preach about our own holiness?

Maybe you’re part of a generation that saw holiness in terms of the things you don’t do. For example, “you’re a holy Christian if you don’t drink, smoke or go to the movies”. Maybe this is why you don’t hear about holiness much, because Christian holiness seems to you like following a big long list of rules.

Or maybe it’s the other way, I think my generation is afraid of talking about holiness much because we don’t like to tell people that they shouldn’t be doing things. Sure, we talk about discipleship and growing in our faith. But how often are we reminded of the fact that we are to live lives that are set apart? Many preachers might be tempted to stay away from the word holiness because they don’t want people to feel that they’ve got a list to follow. I get that. However, we are commanded in Scripture to be holy, we are chosen and set apart and we’re called to live that way.

We are not saved by our works, but by our works we glorify God. Therefore, the burning desire on the heart of every Christian should be to live a holy life.

We are not perfect, we will not reach perfect holiness in this life, but our feeble attempts to live for the Lord are a sign of a transformed heart. When we fail, which we all do, our sin should take us to our knees and weep over our sin, it should make us run to the cross and repent. Not just a quick “sorry God” nor just a “I’ll try my best not to do it again” but a fervent plea for forgiveness and strength, through the Spirit, to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.

Holiness is not a stick that we need to beat ourselves with, it is our identity that we are to live our through the empowering and enabling of the Holy Spirit. If we don’t pursue holiness, if we have no desire to live set-apart lives, have we truly grasped the holiness of God? I don’t think we have.

Likewise if we see holiness simply as a not-to-do list, then we haven’t grasped God’s goodness.

We need to get better, in the pulpit and at the coffee table, at discussing how we are doing in our holiness. Are we living in such a way that honours God? Are we living, through the enabling of the Spirit, a life that is worthy of bearing God’s name?

We need to leave behind our middle class comfortable culture and ask the hard questions. We need to be real people, not polished, airbrushed and fake puppets. Ask the tough questions and see how the conversation becomes more honest, more real and yes, more messy. Pursuing a life of holiness isn’t going to be easy, it isn’t going to be a path of red roses, but it is a path which ends with those wonderful words “well done, good and faithful servant”.

Holiness is a joy, holiness is a privilege, holiness is a command and holiness is God glorifying. Let’s throw polished politeness out of the window and get real, let’s chat about the realities of holiness and be challenged and comforted by the Lord who enables us to be holy.

4 practical books for Christians today…

There are a plethora of Christian books out there, some good and some bad, some technical and some practical. Often it’s hard to know where to start. Here are four very good and practical books that I’ve read recently, each of them is designed to help you put your faith into action. Each book is built on the foundation of Biblical wisdom and helps Christians think through some tricky stuff and live out a God-glorifying life. I hope you enjoy them…
Continue reading “4 practical books for Christians today…”

Reactionary theology isn’t helpful

Situations change, life circumstances can be thrown outside of what we would consider ‘normal’ at any given point. The question is, how do we react in those times? If it’s something relatively small we just fix the problem, change a behaviour, address any fall out and we’re good to go right?

But what do we do when those situations or change in circumstances effect our theology? Continue reading “Reactionary theology isn’t helpful”

A few of my lockdown reads…

This lockdown has meant that, like so many people across the world, I am working from home. I really enjoy my job, which has often meant that I have a slight tendency to over work. But one of the good things that I’ve found during the last few weeks is that I’ve had a bit more time to read. The weather has been nice and I’ve been able to sit outside in a wee garden behind our flat and have lunch with my wife and read a bit in the sun.

This lockdown has boosted my reading quite a bit. In 2020 I set myself the goal of reading 120 books, but I’m already over half way through that goal already so I might need to set another one soon. But I thought that this gives me the perfect opportunity to tell you a bit about a few books that I’ve been reading recently.Continue reading “A few of my lockdown reads…”

Saturday Snippets (April 25)

Here are some of the articles that I’ve read recently and have found interesting, helpful, challenging and encouraging. I hope that they will be the same for you, my dear readers.Continue reading “Saturday Snippets (April 25)”

Pastors, get training!

I currently live and pastor in Scotland, a country that has a strong spiritual history, but sadly that is not the case anymore. The percentage of the population that would consider themselves Christian is unbelievably low and an increasing amount of churches are compromising on the gospel. Some people are taking the view that this means people need to retreat from the church, that people need to leave the ‘established church’. Whilst I understand why they would come to that conclusion I completely disagree. We need pastors and leader to have courage, to boldly stand their ground firm in the gospel and preach the Word of God. We also need pastors to train men, in their local congregations, to preach the Word faithfully. Pastors, get training!Continue reading “Pastors, get training!”

Does your view of Israel diminish the work of the Cross?

In the UK we have just recently celebrated Easter, the wonderful celebration and time of the year that Christians remember the death and resurrection of Jesus. Easter is not the only time of the year that we should remember and celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus, this should be celebrated as a local body of Christ every week. However, it does give Christians a very focused time to consider Jesus’ work on the cross and the effects of it.

Over the years of my theological studies and conversations with Christians, I’ve engaged with people who have wholeheartedly agreed and argued that salvation is found in Christ alone. However, somehow when it comes to the nation of Israel, both currently and eschatologically, that conviction can sometimes be forgotten.Continue reading “Does your view of Israel diminish the work of the Cross?”

Out of the Black Shadows

Biographies, stories of how people’s lives were transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ, are amazing! I enjoy reading about other people’s conversions and how their lives were completely changed through God working in them. ‘Out of the Black Shadows‘ is one of the best biographies that I’ve read over the years. It is the story of a Steven Lungu from Zimbabwe.Continue reading “Out of the Black Shadows”

Coronavirus books…

I thought that I’d do a special short post to draw your attention to 2 very short, but quite helpful book pertaining to our current situation. How should Christians respond to the Coronavirus? I’ve seen Christians claim that it’s God’s judgment, I’ve seen others claim that it’s the work of Satan. I’ll be honest, neither of these responses are helpful, nor do they help our witness to the world. But here are two books that can help…Continue reading “Coronavirus books…”