Personal Holiness
On Friday June 3, the young women of Revelation Church were blessed to fellowship once again. We decided to meet at The Point, a popular outdoor hangout with delicious food choices and a relaxed atmosphere. Our evening began with good food and good conversation before we started our article discussion. Last time we had the privilege of meeting together, we discussed Christian obedience, so I thought a good follow up to that topic would be personal holiness. The two articles chosen for this topic of discussion were, Walk in the Light: How God Uses Our Confession to Others, by Garrett Kell and How Did Our Culture End Up Here? We Neglected God’s Holiness, by: Caleb Greggsen. Although both articles were pertinent to our discussion of personal holiness, I will focus on the article by Caleb Greggsen for this review.
The article, How Did Our Culture End Up Here? We Neglected God’s Holiness, asked the question, how serious is sin? What immediately comes to mind, is very serious indeed. However, in today’s culture, we must ask, “Do we treat sin with the seriousness that it requires?” If we do not, why not? The author reveals the underlying problem which causes us to downplay sin is that we minimize God’s holiness. A diminished view of God leads to a higher view of oneself, which leads us to see sin as just a small discomfort in our lives, instead of a great hindrance to our walk with the Lord. So, in our discussion we had to look inwardly and figure out whether we were guilty of minimizing God and downplaying sin in our personal walk.
Another point emphasized in the article is how church culture today has adopted a lenient view towards sin. He argues that “leniency has built churches on shoddy discipleship whose members cannot articulate the gospel message.” The author asserts, “sanctification has been stifled because the church doesn’t confront sin honestly and frequently.” As we discussed this point, we had to agree with the author and his assessment of the church. The church must have a high view of God, we must see Him “high and lifted up”, His will for the church must be our priority. The church must be a community that treats sin seriously because sin offends our Holy God. To grow in personal holiness, we must see the Lord like Isaiah did in Isaiah 6:1-5:
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
Sovereign Lord, forgive us because we are undone!
Links to articles mentioned in the post: