Pursuit of Holiness

“Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders?” (Exodus 15:11) AND “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:” (Hebrews 12:14)

To pursue holiness is to become like Jesus.

In holiness we find peace. In holiness we find perfection. In holiness we find that we are a new person.

But the pursuit of holiness is not a striving. Holiness is not a goal but a state of being… a state of being the New Man.

Two natures:

We who are In Christ – living the life under the Messiah’s salvation – have two natures. The old nature, the Old Man, is our nature without Jesus. Our new nature, the New Man, is who we become when we receive by faith the Spirit of GOD the Father, Creator of the Universe, through the sacrifice of Yeshua – Jesus – God’s son.

We inherit the new nature, become the New Man through our faith. We can walk in this New Man, when we recognise our old nature is dead. We can stop resurrecting the Old Man when, by faith and only by faith, we remember and live listening to the New Man and ignoring the old triggers, the old nature, the old sinful, imperfect person we are without Jesus.

Holiness comes both from a download into our spirit of God’s Spirit, and a faith walk  taken by the New Man. It is not gained through a pursuit but from a desire and a trust that who we have become is New, Holy, Perfect – just as Jesus is Holy and Perfect.

The path is a surrender and a journey of faith. The path is a surrender of our lives to  follow Jesus. Then it is a surrender of our will to the will of the Father. Then it is a surrender of our old nature to that of the new. Finally, it is a surrender into a new life that ignores the old and instead trusts in the new.

We can’t kill the flesh with our flesh; we can’t kill the flesh with our efforts or our acts of sacrifice or devotions. We can’t kill the flesh in any way, because the flesh is already dead!

Alive in Christ means we are alive only by the saving grace of Yeshua – the Messiah  – Jesus.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Now by faith, we can walk in this New Man. Jesus did it. He shows us the way. But it takes humility, a total recognition of our uselessness as human beings, a brokenness and willingness to forfeit ourselves entirely.

“Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering” (Colossians 3:12)

But put on these tender mercies, not as the Old Man trying to improve, but as the New Man, already perfect.

Oh, sometimes it is a war. Paul said of himself, he hadn’t attained it. But we can do this, in these times, as Jesus’ return draws near. We can be the bride ready for his coming. We can deny ourselves – the Old Man which is dead anyway – and live in God’s peace – His shalom – by living in Holiness, living as the New Man.

Prayer:

May the God of grace enlighten your eyes to the possibilities of His perfect love within you on a deeper and deeper level. May we deny the flesh of our old nature, not by punishing or rebuking ourselves (or one another), but by stepping into the new nature, spirit-filled and walking in the holiness ordained by Father GOD, that began when we cried “Abba, Father, save me!” and “Yes Jesus, I choose to believe and follow you.” The moment we were born again (John 3:3) we received the life of the New Man. Now, by faith, we choose to live in that New Man and in that choice, we find peace, holiness, pure joy and freedom from sin, shame, guilt, fear and condemnation.

When we walk in the New Man, we walk in the same Holiness of Jesus, and that is the pursuit of holiness God asks us and equips us to take.