1 JOHN 3:1-3 – See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
THEME OF THE DAY. HOW TO PURSUE HOLINESS. Let’s imagine that I am a new Christian and come to you for some advice. I sit down and say, “I have been reading my Bible and came across this command – Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). My desire is to please and love my Lord by obeying His commands (John 14:15). Would you please tell me, show me, how to obey this one?” . . . What would you say to me? Or better yet, where would you take me in God’s Word to guide me?
When it comes to pursuing holiness, if our first reaction and response is about us and what we do or don’t do, we are missing the mark. Like all spiritual things, they never begin with us and our efforts. Everything always begins with God, His work and His strength in our lives. This is important to remember. If our approach toward anything spiritual begins with ourselves, be it prayer centered on ourselves, service centered on ourselves, or even seeing God as centered on ourselves, we are changing not only the created order of things from Genesis 1, but creating a Christianity of self-serving. The Bible begins “In the beginning God” not “In the beginning man” (Genesis 1:1). And Jesus came with a message of self-denial, not self-fulfillment; a model of selflessness, not selfishness. So, in the pursuit of holiness, like all things, we look to God. Actually, in today’s scripture, that is exactly the process of becoming holy – beholding God, seeing Him spiritually in prayer and the Word, and particularly, beholding Him in the second coming of Jesus.
The Apostle John proclaims God’s adopting love for us, then tells us about Christ’s second coming to gather His children. And he makes a very profound and practical statement afterwards – “and everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies Himself as He is pure.” We may paraphrase his words like this, “And everyone who is looking for the second coming of Jesus makes himself or herself holy as He is holy.” My friends, holiness is not rooted in action but in abiding (John 15:1-9). It is a wonderful, albeit mysterious, work of God in the believing soul of making the person holy as he or she learns to abide in Christ; an abiding that always produces a longing and looking for the Lord Jesus to return. And doesn’t this make sense? By looking to where our true home is, heaven, and daily anticipating the King of Heaven coming to take us there, such gaze and anticipation weans us from the unholy things of the world and sin.
So, as we seek to obey the command “Be holy as I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16), let’s follow God’s pattern of obeying it, not our own. It is first and foremost about holy fellowship with our holy God; learning to behold Him now with the anticipation of beholding Him in the sky soon.
PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for the hope of heaven and how such hope fuels holiness now.”
QUOTE: “A second coming of Christ mindset is the surest means of promoting personal holiness.”