Moral Action Committee Reports

 

Called to be Holy

Justin Neal, Pastor
Central Baptist Church
Aspermont, Texas

I write to you with a burdened heart for the state of our individual spirits, the sickness of our minds, the lack of zeal in our churches, and the rapid deterioration of our culture. In seeking encouragement from the Lord, I was directed to I Peter 1:13-15: "… 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" (NIV).

God’s Word gives us a good understanding of where He sees we need much improvement in our lives. I often wonder, however, what the Lord’s complete perspective of the world looks like from His awesome point of view. I can vividly remember childhood summers in the countryside of Anderson County. Some of my fondest memories are of gazing into the beauty of the clear warm nights. With all the demands of adult responsibilities in ministry, family, and community, I seldom take time to enjoy God’s creation as I should. Nevertheless, I remember the one particular thing that was revealed in my perspective of the heavens above was the sobering realization that God must have a disappointing view of mankind.

As Christians, we focus a great deal on the sinful state of our world and our culture that is steadily drifting farther away from godly values. We should be very aware of what is going on around us. More importantly, the Lord has convicted me that it would do us well to turn our attention to the state of Christianity and particularly our own lives. We shake our heads in dismay at the morning paper and the evening news while grumbling, "What has this world come to?" Consequently, we Christians all too often allow our lives to be saturated with this world that we claim to be disgusted with. The Scriptures exhort us otherwise. As Peter wrote, it is needful for us to be prepared for action. Even though we have the power of God unto salvation to overcome our sinful ignorance, it is evident by the lack of action of Christians that we are denying that power. Peter gives us a good place to begin – become self-controlled! The Lord Jesus once prayed that we (all of His followers) would be sanctified, set apart as distinguishably different from the world by His Word of truth (Jn. 17:17).

Most likely, in an honest estimation, every Christian would have to admit that we have much improving to do just to be self-controlled in order to act differently than the lost in the world. Thankfully, we have the assurance that our God who has called us into action can and will lead us into living holy and pleasing lives if we will simply submit our will to His. Christian friend, you can be different than the world around you!! We must turn our lives over completely to the Lord if we are ever to impact this sinful world in His name. As Peter exhorts, we need to remember the importance of obedience in our relationship to the Lord. Our world is certainly rushing itself to ruin in sinful living. It is certain, however, that we cannot accomplish anything unless we do it all in the name of the Lord, by the power of the Lord, through the precious blood of the Lord, and for the glory of the Lord. We are called to be holy! That may not be the popular message, but it is definitely what Christians need to remember! May God bless you as you seek to live for Him in the days ahead. May we all heed the message of old from the Word that we are called to be different from the world before we can ever make a difference in it.