Holiness: To Be or Not to Be?

  “There is no sin that doesn’t start with us buying into a lie about God‘s character.” This past week, the Priceless DTS learned about repentance and forgiveness. For 4 days, we attended lectures by Caleb Brownhill, who serves as the director of YWAM in the Asia-Pacific region. Day 5 was application day, and our class spent roughly 8 hours repenting of our sins and committing to forgive those who’ve wronged us before God and each other.

    I learned a lot about myself in those 5 days. I’ve always been keenly aware of my struggles, and I’ve spent the better part of my Christian life trying to free myself of them. For years, I’ve clenched my fists whenever a bad thought popped into my head, I’ve tried to convince myself that other people’s opinions of me don’t matter, and I’ve confessed my pride to God more times than I can count, but honestly, it didn’t do much good. It was exhausting, and as years passed, I found myself getting frustrated with God for not fixing my problems. I tried many tactics and made lots of promises, but I always found myself backsliding, and I ultimately came to the conclusion that some things can’t be changed: I’ll always struggle with my thoughts, I’ll always be insecure, I’ll always want my way more than God’s, in other words, holiness is just a bonus for the super-Christian, something for the Peter’s and Paul’s of this world but not something for an Achaicus like me.    

    In some ways, thinking this way was a welcome relief. It took the pressure off me to perform at what I believed to be a super-human level. Slowly however, so subtly I never even knew it was happening, I began to develop a tolerance of sin. Having a bad day? Go, ahead, take it out on your brother, after all, you can’t be expected to be in control all the time. Watch that movie? Hey, why not? You deserve a break and it’s probably not that bad anyway. Isaiah 59:2 says, “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” God hates sin, He can’t tolerate it in any expression or form, even if it's attached itself to the heart of someone He loves. God created me to be in a relationship with Him, but through my tolerance of sin, I built up a wall between me and God that prevented me from knowing Him on more than a superficial level.

    Somewhere around week 2 of my time at YWAM, I realized something: I don’t trust God. I’ve bought into this lie about God’s character that says He’s not who He says He is, that I can’t trust Him to keep His word. Sin grieves the heart of God because it stifles my relationship with Him. I know that. I’ve heard it in sermons, I’ve read it in the Bible, I’ve studied it in apologetics courses, but do I believe it? Do I believe God’s serious when He says “don’t sin because it’s going to ruin your life, and I’ve got something better for you. Don’t sin because it stops up your ears so you can’t hear me, it hardens your heart so you can’t feel me, it blinds your eyes so you can’t see me. Don’t sin because no one’s ever going to love you as much as I do. You can trust me?”

 You can’t hate sin unless you believe God is who He says He is. You can’t hate sin unless you’ve caught a glimpse of just how loving, how holy, how infinitely worthy God is of our wholehearted obedience. Holiness isn’t a medal reserved for the Olympians of Christendom, holiness is the only fitting response for Him who for our sakes was made to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
 
  So did spending a week learning about the devastating affects of sin give me a hatred of sin? Did I wake up on Saturday morning free and clear of any desire to taste its fleeting pleasures? Do I no longer feel tempted to think a bad thought, compare myself to others, or walk in disobedience? No. But I am beginning to understand that repentance is a lot less about my problems and a lot more about my relationship with God. The more I learn about God's character, the more I realize sin isn't worth separation from a God who truly loves me. That's why holiness is important, not because we're afraid of the consequences or we're looking for brownie points, but because our relationship with an all-holy God is too important a thing to risk on a few gossip sessions. Holiness isn't a question of, "to be or not to be," it's the tangible expression of a life touched by Christ. Holiness isn't an option, it's the only fitting answer to the words, "follow me."