Ramblings from Retirement – How to Live!

Ramblings from Retirement – How to Live!
By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen
April 10, 2021

There are some truly disturbing trends in Christianity today; one is where folks think that God just winks and smiles at their “discretions”, otherwise known as sins, and those who think that if they follow a set of rules or guidelines then they will be loved by God. Neither is correct and will result in a false sense of spiritual security that will ultimately end in eternal death.

Peter writes believers when he tells them to “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’ (1 Peter 1:13-16 NIV84)” Sure the writer of Hebrews tells us that we are t “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14 NIV84)” And Paul clarifies it for us by relating, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. (Ephesians 1:4-8 NIV84)”

We are made holy spiritually because of Jesus but we are not holy individuals in our attitudes or actions. We cannot simply feel good about ourselves and therefore think we are okay with God. We are made right with God only through our faith in Jesus. However we should be ready to prepare ourselves for action by being “self-controlled”, by not conforming “to the evil desires (we) had when (we) lived in ignorance” of Jesus. As Christians we should want to be holy in all we do because the One who saved us by His sacrifice is holy. We do not earn our holiness nor are we perfect but we can strive to be better. We should remember that God in Jesus “chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight”! He is the One who does it and He is the One who does the choosing because “In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.”

So what does this all mean for us today? Well, we can stop trying to be holy by the things we do, be the people of God He desires us to be, and we can stop thinking that by just feeling good about ourselves is good enough. How we feel or what we do is not how we are holy but rather who we believe in, trust, and walk with daily. As Paul would say, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21 NIV84)” This should be our mantra and this should be how we should live.

This article is copyrighted © 2021 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.

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