Lord, you are my righteousness. I have no righteousness of my own, it is only through your blood that was shed for me that I can be pure and holy in your sight, and it is your righteousness that sets me free making me clean. Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice. Without you I have nothing and without you I am nothing. Lord today I ask that you would help me to set my mind on you. Let my mind be focused on things above and things that are eternal and Lord give me a passion to dwell on whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is excellent and good in your eyes. Lord give me the strength to take every thought captive today that I might be obedient to you. Jesus, help me to be like you, to feel like you feel, see what you see, and to love like you love. I ask all of these things in the precious name of Jesus, Amen.
What is the end-game in Christianity? (to avoid any unnecessary confusion let me define what end-game means. End-game-”The final stage of an extended process or course of events” ) What should we be striving and fighting and pushing for in our lives? What should we be doing to work towards the final stage of the process of Spiritual growth? Many people have the idea that the purpose or goal of Christianity is to reach heaven and some may even think that the purpose or goal of Christianity is to avoid hell. While these may be real concepts, these things are simply consequences or results that happen in the present, not the future. Once you are a Christian you don’t strive to get to heaven anymore because the result of being “born again” (John 3:3) is that you are automatically no longer condemned (Romans 8:1) and that you will go to heaven. If you are not born again then the automatic result is that you are “already condemned” (John 3:18) and destined for eternity apart from God. For those who are in Christ Jesus, the goal of reaching heaven is already complete and for those who are without Jesus they stand already condemned and therefore these things are not a process, they are instant results of our spiritual state. So then, what is the end game? I believe God summed it up with one simple statement: “Be Holy”
Leviticus 11:44 - “For I am the Lord your God, so you must consecrate yourselves and be holy because I am holy.”
Leviticus 11:45 - “For I am the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God, so you must be holy because I am holy.”
Leviticus 20:7 - “Consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am the Lord your God.”
Leviticus 20:26 - “You are to be holy to Me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be Mine.”
De 26:19 - “that He will put you far above all the nations He has made in praise, fame, and glory, and that you will be a holy people to the Lord your God as He promised.”
Eph 1:4 - “for He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight.”
1Pe 1:15-16 - “but, as the One who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy. “
2Pe 3:11 - ” it is clear what sort of people you should be in holy conduct and godliness”
In the end, to those who are in Christ Jesus, we will be glorified with new bodies and without sin or pain or suffering, completely holy and righteous people. If that is the final product, then that should be what we are striving for each day, personal holiness. Here is the problem I see, Christians will strive for personal holiness in the “big stuff” but when it comes to the little sins we simply look over them with no thought or remorse. While most Christians strive not to kill, steal, cuss, commit adultery, or do any of the big sins, it is not uncommon to see Christians illegally downloading music & movies off of the Internet or breaking the law by speeding.
Almost a year ago I began to feel convicted about personal holiness. Realizing that I fit into the “don’t do the big stuff and ignore the fact that you do the small stuff” category I decided one day that I was going to do something about it. I actively began forcing myself to drive the speed limit and when I want to download a song I legally use iTunes. Doing these things has become such a habit for me that I rarely deviate from them. Sometimes I do fail and realize that I am speeding, at that point I simply slow back down and mentally repeat to myself, “be holy as I am holy”.
Many of us believe that we can never be perfect and since we can never reach that goal then what is the point in trying? Here is what I tell my teenagers at church: (I may have just coined this) “If you never try you will always fail, but if you do try you will only fail sometimes.” The simple fact is, if you try you will succeed but if you never try you will never succeed. The difference between someone who tries and someone who doesn’t is simple. For example, a person who tries is like the guy who has a problem with his temper and does what he can to control it and then every once in awhile it slips out. Once it slips out he feels bad about it, repents from it, and goes right on trying once again to do the best he can to be kind and gentle. The person who doesn’t try is like the guy who makes the conscious choice to speed and does so with no remorse and no thought of repentance whatsoever. The guy who has the temper tries and sometimes fails but he also succeeds in personal holiness. The guy who speeds will always fail and will never succeed because he doesn’t even try. I would label this as unrepentant sin. How can we be faithful to God in the big stuff if we are never faithful in the small stuff?
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