God’s command to live holy lives.
“Holiness is a Doctrine to be believed, an experience to be received and a life to be lived” J.B Chapman. We have all had the experience Paul describes in Romans 7 where he shares his struggles with the flesh and the Spirit pulling him in two different directions, resulting in him confessing that the good he wanted to do he did not do and the evil he did not want to do he did. He then cries out “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death”? His follow up statement gives the secret “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord” As we read through the New Testament we see that the secret of victory is the Lordship of Christ.
When He is in control there is victory. We see this in the lives of the eleven disciples. Even though they spent three years traveling with Jesus, hearing Him teach, watching Him perform miracles, there were numerous times when we see them fail. Doubt, pride, anger, jealousy, betrayal, denial and fear can be seen. Following their period of waiting on God in Acts one , which obviously was a time of reconciliation, prayer, obedience and surrender we read of victorious, fruitful, God glorifying service.
Holiness/victorious living so often begins with a crises experience, followed by a process, followed by a crises experience, followed by a process until we enter Heaven. We don’t reach absolute perfection until we reach Heaven but there is a progressive perfection that awaits all who will “Walk in the light” day by day.
John Bennett
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