Lessons Learned...

Jerry Bridges quotes the verse Hebrew 12:14 in his book Pursuit of Holiness..."Without holiness no one will see the Lord." You know, we pray that people will see Jesus in us, we pray that we will glorify the Lord in all that we do, but what enables that to happen? "WITHOUT holiness... NO ONE...will see the Lord." YIKES!??! You mean, if I am not holy people will not see Christ through and in me??! And what does it mean to be holy? Paul says in Colossians, "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature"...meaning, DESTROY the strength and vitality of sin as it tries to reign in our bodies, done by the strength and under the direction of the Holy Spirit. I ask myself, am I walking IN holiness daily? Am I putting to death the smallest, hint of immorality, the teeney bit of impulsive behavior, any part of lacking in self-control, etc. that needs to be put to death? The action to take is to PUT to DEATH the misdeeds of the body (Romans 8:13) or no one will see the Lord in me.
"Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God remake you so that your whole attitude of mind is changed." (Romans 12:2 PH, Read it in the NIV too!)