Tuesday August 14, 2012

Where do you need to grow in purity? Get together with a trusted friend and pray about this. Ask him/her to keep you accountable.

 

Read Revelation 2-3, 1 Peter 2:9-10

 

A bride walks down the aisle and everyone notices the blotch of dirt on her gown. How could you miss it? It stands out like a sore thumb.  Everyone gasps somewhat uncomfortably and there’s a nervous tension in the air. The church is like that bride. Sin within the church is a blotch that stands out like a sore thumb.

 

Whether we like it or not there are people in the world who stand watch over the church and over Christians to catch them out in sin. Indeed, the situation is so bad now that many movies and serials often have a so called Christian as the bad guy sinning behind the scenes and staining the perfect name of our Lord and Saviour. In such shows, it’s often the bad guy or the ‘not-so-pure’ detective that brings relief, justice and hope to the victims abused by the so called Christian. The world wants nothing more than to have legitimate grounds to discredit Christ, His Church and His people through the mass media. From the world’s perspective, the more that are turned away from the church the better.

 

Our individual union with Christ is the cause and motivation for our personal holiness. The church’s union with Christ is the cause and motivation for the church’s holiness and purity. It’s our closeness to Christ, our love for Him and our appreciation and experience of His love for us that drives our purity and holiness. As the church grows closer to Christ she won’t want to sin. She won’t want to deviate from God’s perfect paths. She won’t want to discredit God’s holy and pure name.

 

Interestingly, it’s often in the tough times, like times of persecution, that the church’s holiness comes to the fore. I’ve read dozens, even hundreds, of conversion stories where the holiness of the church and/or some of its members was the key factor in drawing people to Christ. In fact, you can see a person’s true character by their initial reaction to tough times, to adverse situations and to unexpected turns. The Christian and the Church should be reacting with and in holiness no matter how tough life gets.

 

What our world needs to see is not more Christians sinning behind closed doors. The world has come to expect Christians to be hypocritical. What the world needs to see is believers walking with integrity of every area of life. The world needs to see Christians making sacrifices for the holiness and purity of our God.

 

Prayer:

¨ Pray for each and every member of your church to be growing in holiness and purity. Pray that the Lord would be weeding sin, sinful habits and desires out of your life and out of theirs.

¨ Pray that your church’s holiness and purity would be drawing people to Christ for salvation.