Thoughts in Worship

Message Magazine's Online Devotional for Monday, July 1, 2019

Audio Link: http://bit.ly/ThoughtsinWorship

This is devotional thought number 72 and final in our devotional series titled, “The Faith I Live By”

“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13).

Holiness matters!

When I was young in the faith, I imagined that holiness was some sort of mystical lifestyle wherein unapproachable people participated in the Gregorian chant for hours on end, and when they were finished, they would maybe study a sacred scroll, and then put their bodies through an abstemious pressure test, to demonstrate their commitment to the cause. Many of you may have a variation of this fairy tale view. The problem with it (besides the fact that it just ain’t true) is that it eliminates human interaction at the most basic levels of its practice. It does not demonstrate practical love and respect. It is satisfied with the pursuit of a sequestered reality where its own spiritual so-called growth and God awareness is central. You will be happy to note that false view vanished when I began to study the Word more.

I am intrigued by the fact that I have never heard a Bible teacher, bishop, or pastor share our theme text and those following, in the context of Paul’s conversation. I always simply looked at it as a hopeful passage regarding the Second Coming. Don’t get me wrong, it is about the coming, but holiness is the context, and he was giving holiness a framework. Are you ready to learn that framework? Sexual purity. If I were a betting man, I would be willing to wager that most of you were not expecting that. Apparently, Paul’s audience had a problem with keeping their hands a sexual body parts to themselves. It seems adultery was a major problem. Moreover, these folks were supposed to be believers. Some of them would sex other church brothers’ and sisters’ spouses. Can you say, “SCANDALOUS”? Well, that’s what it was - scandalous. So again, the framework for their holiness context was to allow the Holy Spirit to purify them sexually; to dedicate themselves to the vow they made with their own spouses. How novel, but I get it. Paul further taught that choosing sexual purity was the manifestation of their love, considering the problem they were having in that area.

Why does this matter? Sexual purity is a practical manifestation of a pure relationship between us and God. Those who wish to live forever are depicted as those making a vow to Christ similar to a marriage vow. Those who keep it, by God’s grace, are pure. Those who break it are repeatedly called spiritual harlots, whores, adulterers, and adulteresses in the Old Testament. Seems harsh, but it’s true. When we seek unto devices of pride, self-sufficiency, lust, malice, injustice, hatred, envy, religious bigotry and oppression, etc., we are exchanging our relationship with the Creator, for one with false gods of our own devising.

Those who are awaiting the coming of Jesus (Yehoshua), to begin an eternal and immortal experience with no more pain, sickness, or death, must allow the Creator to make us pure. He is able to forgive and cleanse all of our unrighteousness. He is able to help us right the wrongs we have perpetrated against others. He is able to teach us how to treat people in the way we would like to be treated. In short, He is able to make us holy until Jesus comes. And when He does, the trumpet will sound, the voice of our Creator will shout a call of triumph, and all who ultimately learned to keep our vow to God will defy the laws of gravity, and be caught up to meet Jesus in the air to begin the long awaited journey to the heavenly kingdom. Why not allow God to make you holy, so you can be in...