Holiness
Do we wink at sin?
Losing the Holiness of God
The last few days I’ve consumed a variety of media that’s got me orbiting the topic of God’s holiness.
It’s no doubt that our culture does not wink at sin, it celebrates it! Something akin to the man who had his father’s wife in Corinth, to which Paul responded:
“And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn?”
1 Corinthians 5:2
I’ve long lamented the fact that we don’t blush as a culture anymore. We have no sense of personal dignity that would be corrupted if we said or did things which clearly violate that invisible substance. Jeremiah Burroughs the Puritan said it well concerning sin when he said:
“It is the greatest evil of all because it is against God. There can be no humiliation deep enough unless the soul is humbled for sin because it has sinned against God.”
- The Evil of Evils
Sin can never truly be dealt with unless it is brought into the light of God’s holiness. We say things online because we forget God’s holiness, or think somehow it doesn’t reach there. We celebrate violence because we forgot God’s holiness. We speak harshly to the ones we say we love because we forgot God’s holiness. We must return to consciously living before the face of God. How many people will finally see God face to face and realize they lived their lives practically as if that was never any of their concern. I’m not talking about the lost, I’m talking about those who profess Christ.
A video I watched just recently was cataloging the life and impact of R.C. Sproul who was, colloquially, the holiness guy. A man of as much mischief and laughter as he was severe gravity concerning the things of God. The video reflected on how he died before what seemed to be a cascade of cultural tectonic shifts and wondered how he would have guided believers through these tumultuous times if he were still here. No doubt, he would still be turning our heads to face the holiness of God.
We need to cultivate a gravity, a righteous affection and zeal for the holiness of God. Only then will our sins be crimson in the full light of God’s radiance. Only then will the things of this life fade away and our whole person will be turned heavenward.
Let me encourage you; pray this prayer that our Savior instructs us:
““Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.”
Stop there. Ask God to make His name holy to you. Then pray again. And again.
When our sins have writhed and clawed beneath the light of God’s holiness, then the Gospel of grace can be the effective antiseptic of the soul.
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Prayer Requests
This Sunday I preach at Calvary Baptist in Albany for my dear friend Brandon Ellis. I’m looking forward to preaching on the murder of John the Baptist… not in a morbid way. Pray for me.
Pray for the Moore clan, we all tested positive for strep! Thankfully we’re through the nastiest of the symptoms but we all have meds onboard and should be tip top soon.
Pray for a new pastor who is just down the street from us at River Road Baptist, Andrew. He was installed only a few weeks ago. We got to meet him and are encouraged to see them get a solid pastor.
