HOW CAN I LIVE A HOLY LIFE?
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from the Afrikaans Version: Hoe kan ek heilig lewe?
Translator: Lynda Botha
Someone wrote to me the following:
“I have a question. It would probably sound ridiculous to you, but as I read your e-mail and came to the verse “Be holy because I am holy”, I wondered how can we really be holy? Can you help?”
The Scripture this person is referring to is:
1 PET 1:16: “For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
Peter quoted here a part of Leviticus 11:44. We read there:
LEV 11:44: “For I am the Lord your God. You must consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy….”
How can we become holy?
Actually I asked this question incorrectly. You see, our Lord sees us as holy already:
1 PET 2:9 “But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light.”
This is just one of the many Scriptures that I could quote to you, to show that our Lord sees us – who took Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour – as holy.
I believe that when our Lord told us: "Be holy, for I am holy", He meant; that the more we inhabit His Love Commandment He has given us, the holier we become.
What Love Commandment do I speak of?
We read about this love commandment in MATHEWS 22:36-40.
MAT 22:36-40: 36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” 37 “Jesus replied: "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.” 38 “This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 “A second is equally important: “'Love your neighbour as yourself.” 40 “The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
My hero Paul writes on occasion the following:
ROM 13:8-10: 8 “Owe nothing to anyone – except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbour, you will fulfil the requirements of God’s law.” 9 “For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These – and other such commandments – are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” 10 “Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfils the requirements of God’s law.”
You see –
If the love in my heart for God and other people is on the level where our Lord wants my love to be, I will not do anything to my fellow human beings my Lord doesn’t want me to do.
The Amplified version expresses this verse as follows:
ROM13:10: “Love does no wrong to a neighbour (it never hurts anyone). Therefore (unselfish) love is the fulfilment of the Law.”
Someone might now ask:
"How can my love for my fellow man make me holier or even holy at all?
Well, actually the answer to this question is simple.
As I see it, by bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit it happens so wonderfully by itself.
First, I’ll show you where Jesus gave an example about the wrong kind of fruit (which I will call the deadly poisonous fruit):
MAT 7:15-20: 15 “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheet but are really vicious wolves.” 16 “You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?” 17 “A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit.” 18 “A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit.” 19 “So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire.” 20 “Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.”
The bad fruit Jesus refers to here is so deadly poisonous, that the poison can kill you mentally and cost you your eternal life.
Just after Jesus spoke to us about the bad fruit, he also shares this enormous reality:
MAT 7:21: "Not everyone who calls out to me, “Lord! Lord!” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of My Father in Heaven will enter.”
What does the actions of the person look like who ultimately bears the good fruit of the Holy Spirit? In other words –
What should my actions be and look like, when I do the will of my Father in Heaven?
MAT 13:23: "The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s Word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”
This hundred, sixty or thirtyfold fruit to be found within us is the sanctity of our Lord which the people will see.
What does this wonderful fruit of the Holy Spirit look like, which the people will see and want to receive or enjoy?
GAL 5:22-23: 22 “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,” 23 “gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”
My goal is – and I want to ask that you also make this your goal:
We need to produce these fruits of the Spirit which you have just read about, not just in thirty- or sixtyfold, but in hundredfold, so that we can successfully execute the command given by our Lord to accomplish the Scripture which started off my discussion to you today:
1 PET 1:16: “..You must be holy because I am holy.”
This we do by bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit which GALATIANS 5:22-23 tells us about.
Bearing these types of fruit is only possible if I really love my God and my fellow man within my heart. For then and only then, is it possible to fulfil our Lord's Law of Love!
There it is, so to speak, written in black and white:
ROM13:8: “…If you love your neighbour, you will fulfil the requirements of God’s law.”
Which law does the Christian Paul speak about?
Of Jesus’ love commandment of course.
The Amplified version states:
MAT 22:36-40: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” 37 “And Jesus replied to him: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” 38 “This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 “The second is like it, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself” (that is, unselfishly seek the best or higher good for others).” 40 “The whole law and the (writings of the) Prophets depend on these two commandments.”
At another place within the Word of God it says with regards to MATTHEW 22:39-40 the following:
MARK 12:31: "The second is equally important: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' No other commandment is greater than these.”
Now you can be sure when the Bible says:
MARK 12:31: "…No other commandment is greater than these.”
Well, then "there is no other commandment greater than these."
Live by carrying out this law, by distributing the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and you will have a holy life. Then you can distribute this delicious fruit of the Holy Spirit to those around you.
Yes, live earnestly according to these biblical principles and you will eventually come to that place, where people will see you are holy, because your God, who lives in you, is holy.
Greetings,
Sakkie