One of my passions is to encourage people toward higher levels of commitment to Christ and His church. The Bible says we are to become holy, as He is holy (1 Peter 1:15). But what does that really mean?
The holiness we are to exhibit is not our own, but the holiness of Christ in us. We are not holy, not will we become holy humans. Christ in us can manifest His holiness only if we will yield our flesh to Him. This is not a human operation; it is a spiritual one. Jesus lives out His holiness in us by grace. It is not a once-for-all-time transaction; it is a daily, moment-by-moment striving to live more by the Spirit and less by the flesh.
Becoming holy is a process that includes God’s part and our part. On one hand, our part is to stay out of God’s part—to yield, to surrender, to stop seeking God on our own terms. But our part also is to obey. It is to enter His rehabilitation program.
When you put yourself under a doctor’s care, he cannot help you if you don’t follow his instructions. As the patient surrenders his own good ideas and obeys the doctor’s prescription, he becomes well. The same is true in sanctification. If you and I want to be made holy, then we must willingly surrender ourselves to His care, and we must also actively obey His instructions.
We have no more power to make ourselves holy than a dying man has to save himself. We are weak and tired, and we cannot offer much help. However, we can submit to His rehabilitation program—sanctification. The key to our part is faith—to seek Him in obedience.
(From Walking with Christ in the Details of Life by Patrick Morley)
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