Holy vs Unholy - Which Will it Be?
Holy vs Unholy – Which will it be?
Let’s get ready to rumble!!! Seriously…we are in a fight of major proportions. God has called us to be holy and Satan wants us to have absolutely no part of that. So there is a boxing match of sorts going on within us. Are we going to walk in the Spirit today or are we going to give into our flesh? My last two posts have been on this subject because it is important and one we need to get figured out. (Called to be Holy & Is This Too Much to Ask?)The word HOLY can be totally intimidating – but it is what God expects of us. So, let’s decide… holy vs unholy - which will it be? Let’s contrast the two – or let the Word do that for us.
The contenders in this fight to control our behavior are the Holy Spirit and Satan. Now, please do not get me wrong. God is more powerful and will be victorious over Satan. But when it comes to our actions – we either allow the Holy Spirit to guide us or we give Satan that control. Yes, we let the devil make us do it. We have a choice – good or evil – Spirit vs. Flesh – Holy vs unholy - which will it be? It is really that simple. We get to choose.
What would it look like if Satan (our flesh) was winning this round? God’s Word warns us about this in Galatians 5:13-26. See if you recognize any of these behaviors. Our flesh wants us to be critical and judgmental of others – to be self-centered and cause contentions. Satan wants us to no longer stand on the teachings of God’s Word, but to buy into what is morally acceptable by the world’s standards. Sexual sins are not okay even though the world tells us it is fine – everyone is doing it. When we lash out at others and have outbursts of anger we are being energized by Satan. (Yikes!) Satan wants us to be jealous and discontent. He wants us to compare and feel inadequate. He want us to have little “g” gods (our children, spouse, career, feelings, desires, addictions, etc.) that we place before the One and Only big “G” God. He wants us to be fueled by our selfish ambitions putting those before our relationship with our Savior. He wants us to believe the lie that we have earned our place on the team, our raise our promotion – forgetting that it is God who has brought us here and blessed us. This is not a pretty picture and not where I wish to be. What about you?
So what does it look like to walk in the Spirit? We will closely follow Christ’s example. We will love others unconditionally – no more criticizing and judging. We will have joy and be content in life – believing and trusting God to carry us through every problem and situation. We will have peace in our own life and want peace with others. We will be patient and bear with others when they are not like us. We will be kind to others in our thoughts, our words and our actions. We will pursue goodness – holiness – purity in our conduct. (Does this mean we will never mess up? No. But we will dust ourselves off and get back into step with the Holy Spirit.) We will be full of faith and walk in obedience to God’s word. We will be gentle in Spirit and exhibit self-control over our flesh. We can master our sinful desires and defeat Satan when we focus on God and put Him very first in our lives.
So… holy vs unholy – which will it be? Have you decided? Remember – we have a Helper, the Holy Spirit. When we accepted Jesus as our Savior – we were given this amazing gift. By tuning into and walking in obedience to His promptings – we can grow in our submission to this calling to be Holy.
Jesus said, “‘Be holy, for I am holy.’” I Peter 1:13-16
Read Galatians 5:13-26 (NKJV) here...
“For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’. But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!
I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is not law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”