HOW HOLY IS YOUR HOLINESS?

WHAT IS HOLINESS?

Holiness – Webster’s’ dictionary

HO’LINESS, n. from holy. The state of being holy; purity or integrity of moral character; freedom from sin; sanctity.

 Applied to the Supreme Being, holiness denotes perfect purity or integrity of moral character, one of his essential attributes.

 Applied to human beings, holiness is purity of heart or dispositions; sanctified affections; piety; moral goodness, but not perfect.

And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Ephesians 4:24  

1. DELIVERANCE FROM PRIDE Psalms 101:5  Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. 1 Peter 5:5  Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
2. UNSELFISHNESS Selfishness is that disposition which prompts us to seek our own interests or our own gratification without due regard to the rights or happiness of others.

There is scarcely a crime which man commits, or a sin of which he is guilty, which does not originate in selfishness.

• CONTROL OF APPETITES True holiness has its influence on every part of our nature. Holiness gives to its possessor control over all his bodily appetites.
• LOVE Holiness implies deliverance from all hatred of any human being. It is natural to return hatred for hatred. But holiness causes one to return good for evil, blessing for cursing, and love for hatred. Matt. 5:43-48; I Thess. 5:23; Col. 3:8.
• HATRED FOR SIN Scriptural holiness implies hatred of sin. It offers a stern resistance to sin in all its guises. Hatred to sin will enable you to stand true to God under all circumstances. II Pet. 2:8.
• HONESTY IN BUSINESS Honesty is that disposition which prompts us to give to everyone his due. It makes us thoughtful of the rights of others. Its influence is felt in all the relations of life. It makes us more anxious to give to others their rights, than we are to insist upon our own. Eph. 6:6.
• IMPARTIALITY God is no respecter of persons. True holiness honours those whom God honours.
• LOVE TO GOD There can be no such thing as Christian holiness without supreme love to God. Matt. 22:37. A failure here involves failure everywhere. It is manifested by a desire to please Him.
• TRUST IN GOD True holiness brings man into the most intimate relations with His Creator. A holy person, then, trusts in God. All his interests, for time and eternity, are committed to the keeping of Him who never wearies. He has confidence in God.

From the above definitions we can gather that HOLINESS is –

1.   PERFECT LOVE

1. To God
2. To the Word of God
3. To the Work of God
4. To the people of God
5. To the ministers of God
6. To those around you including your wife/husband and children

Can you say that you are demonstrating perfect love to your wife/husband? The way you handle your spouse is that the demonstration of perfect love?

Can your children hug and embrace you? Can they see you as father/mother and friend? Are you a lamb in the church and a lion in the house always roaring on the members of the family; is that demonstration of perfect love?

2.   BEING LIKE CHRIST

I want you to help me to be the judge for some minutes and judge these cases.

1. The way you handle your wife/husband, is that the way Jesus would have acted? – “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.”  Ephesians 5:22 –“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it”; Ephesians 5:25
2. The way you handle your children is that how Jesus could have handled them if He is in your shoes?
3. The way you handle your business is that how Jesus would have handled it?
4. See yourself in the private, public, market, offices and find out if what you do day in day out is what Jesus could have done.
5. The way you handle and treat those working under you, is that the way Jesus would have handled them?
6. Does sacrifice (of self, money, ambition and time) has any meaning in your life? – “As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.” John 10:15  
7. Do you see yourself and all you have as a complete property of God?
8. Do you see other brothers and sisters whether they belong to your church or not as members of the body of Christ as you are? – “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd”. John 10:16  
9. Do you realize that your denomination is not the gate way to heaven? – “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6  
10. Do you realize that your pastor is not the final authority on things of God? – The Holy Spirit is

Please help me to judge these cases.

Now, let us reason together, there is no HOLINESS without LOVE.

1. A HOLINESS person will only get angry at sin and not even at the sinner. Think of how many times your eyes had been red.
2. You still bear malice, grudge, and have unforgiving spirit, is that the nature of Christ?
3. Envy, jealousy and quarrelling are not far from you, can you say you ate really for Christ?
4. How clean are you when we come to fornication and all uncleanness?
5. How clean are you when we talk of the carnality around you?
6. Do you have any other god outside Christ? Is there somebody you fear like or more than Christ?
7. Is Christ your real Master having the final authority over your life?
8. Are there some things you can do or say in the absence of your pastor but not in his presence?

2 Corinthians 13:5  Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?