newprotest.org: HOLINESS AND HUMILITY

HOLINESS AND HUMILITY

April 06, 2005
by: jovial_cynic
In my bible study group, we had a conversation about striving for holiness, and standing up for things we believe in and refusing to make compromises for sinful behavior. For instance, changing the channel on TV when things get "inappropriate," and things of that nature.

The difficult part, however, is unexpected. You'd think it'd be hard to change your behavior and to make a new pattern of living, but that's actually the easiest thing about striving for holiness. The most difficult part is maintaining humility while striving for holiness.

For instance, if I took a strong personal stand against "sexual situations" on television, it would be difficult for me to bite my tongue when my brother or sister in Christ talked to me about the last episode of "Desperate Housewives." Could I, in my strive for holiness, have enough grace to not judge my fellow christians? Could I avoid saying the clearly judgemental phrase, "you shouldn't watch that!"

Yet Christ did. He was most holy, and at the same time most humble. He did not point out the shortcomings of others, but loved each with grace. In our sinful nature, we are very quick to point out the flaws in one another... and I think this is where Jesus' statement about the "speck in your brother's eye" makes the most sense.

There a lot of things we in our lives that we do that take our focus off of God. I'm not talking about overt sin... adultery, for instance, is adultry, and the law of God is very clear about that. But in our own lives, God might call us away from watching so much sports on television, or call us away from going hunting every weekend, or might call us to spend more time reading scripture instead of just talking about scripture. But in all these things, our obedience to God's call in our lives does not make us more holy than anyone else - it is simply obedience, and should be done in all humility. In these matters, let God alone judge.
np category: theology
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