One thing about the Christian life is the call to live beyond oneself. We are called to be holy as our Father is holy (Leviticus 19:2; Matthew 5:48). We are called to seek the things above and not the things of earth (Colossians 3:2). We are told to consider others better than ourselves (Philippians 2:3-4). “Quite a lofty command!” you must think. But that’s not all, for the Lord still adds that we had better lose the world and gain our souls (Mark 8:36). Our crosses we must bear and follow Christ (Mark 8:35). This is why, for us Christians, loving the world is equated to not loving the Father (1 John 2:15-17).
The Christian presently lives in an already-but-not-yet reality. That means that the promise of life is very much ours presently, for eternal life is described as “to know…God, and [his] Son…” (John 17:3), yet we still face off against the world, the flesh, and the devil. As long as we remain in this body, we have yet to reach the prize of the upward call (Philippians 3:12). Hence the exhortation unto urgency, assured that our goal is, in fact, nearer than when we first believed (Romans 13:11-14).
Given how often Scripture jolts us unto urgency, we can infer that we are tempted to delay our pursuit of holiness. It is of grave importance that we get to see how, lest we live unfruitful lives while in the body.
What Occupies Our Mind
Foremost among the things that delay our pursuit of holiness is that which occupies the mind. What, if I may venture to ask, have you filled your mind with? Are your thoughts consistent with one who is striving for the prize of the upward call in Christ? Or, upon quick introspection, would you come to the sad realisation that this isn’t the case?
What is vs What Came Before
Sadly, the latter is true for most of us, especially in a world that calls us to pursue instant gratification. Most of the modern world doesn’t have eternity in view. Because of this, even though we live in the most advanced age in human history, we are somehow the most unhappy. Some may say it is because statistics on such matters didn’t come to be until the modern age. That I would grant. However, there is no denying that most of those who came before us believed in a life beyond themselves. And they were evidently happier despite having endured undeniably worse times. They didn’t see reason and God as incompatible as the Enlightenment made the world believe. Instead, they saw that the only way they could reason out their lives was through God.
Because of this, their minds were preoccupied with God, which greatly affected their lives. However, for us, the reverse is sadly true. Instead of studying and meditating on God’s word, most of our time is spent scrolling mindlessly through social media. Instead of praying, we seek out the latest gossip. Fellowship with fellow believers is treated as a burdensome chore. Contrast that with how gladly most of us will stay up binging on some useless show all night. What such activity does is it dulls our assurance. Yes, there is no arguing that Satan cannot touch those who are God’s (1 John 5:18), but that does not mean he will not attempt to blunt our influence and strip us of fruit.
An Example Not to Follow
How the devil dulls our assurance is by ensuring that we occupy our minds with anything but God. It is what I like to call “occupied with nothing,” for anything that robs us of our time with God is ultimately nothing. An example of this is Lot. He is called righteous by Peter in 2 Peter 2:7. Yet, the portrait of the man we see in Genesis is anything but. For the life he lived, he barely passed the test. In one chapter (Genesis 19), we read that he was a bad father in more ways than one. He was a man who, only because of God’s mercy, made it out of Sodom, for he lingered there (Genesis 19:16). He was reluctant to leave Sodom.
Lot was so occupied with Sodom that he hesitated even when God told him to leave. The question for you is, what is your Sodom? What is it that you are so preoccupied with that it is delaying your pursuit of the holiness without which you shall not see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14)?
If the Lord commanded you to leave it, would you be hesitant? If yes, then that means you have yet to occupy yourself fully with God, and you should strive, by God’s enabling grace, to fix that. Just because Lot was called righteous doesn’t mean we strive for a life like his. Indeed, we have been saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8), but Scripture doesn’t stop there. It continues by saying that because we are saved, we will strive to walk in the good works God has prepared for us beforehand (Ephesians 2:10).
Don’t Occupy Yourself with Nothing
Again, I ask, what occupies your mind? Yes, we live in an age where technology orders our day by God’s providence, but that doesn’t mean we are to carelessly fill our minds with the emptiness it contains for most of our lives. The same screens we use to scroll through social media mindlessly can be used to better our Bible study. They can be used to grow our Christian lives through edifying articles, sermons, podcasts, songs, etc. We can use technology to reach out to fellow saints during the week and seek ways to fellowship with, serve and pray for them.
We can use the things meant to occupy us with nothing as a means to occupy ourselves with everything God intends for us. And while I have largely focused on technology, it is not the only culprit. Lot didn’t have technology but occupied himself with nothing. Whatever your specific distraction is, be willing to cast it aside, lest we fall short of not holding firm to the confidence of our hope.
The Need to Urgently Pursue Holiness
In case you’re wondering how you might awaken your pursuit of holiness, I suggest you consider God’s eternal love. Before Paul exhorts us to walk in the good works that God prepared for us beforehand, he reminds us that we were once spiritually dead and subject to God’s wrath (Ephesians 2:1-3). Where might the scales have tilted? In Ephesians 2:4, we are told that the richness of God’s mercy came from his love for us. Thus, our pursuit of holiness is only informed by God’s love for us.
God’s Love Informs our Pursuit
It is a love demonstrated through Christ’s life, substitutionary death and resurrection (Ephesians 2:5-7). Because God loved us, he sent his Son and anyone who believes in his Son has eternal life (John 3:16). To believe is not to simply recognise this as true. Rather, it is to act in accordance with our belief. If I believe that you are trustworthy, my actions around you will highlight that. The same is true with Christ, in whom we believe owing to God’s love for us, just like the children of Israel were to obey God’s commands because he had loved them (Deuteronomy 7:7-11).
We present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to the Lord because we know he loves us (Romans 12:1-2). Remember, this charge by Paul is built on the previous assurance that nothing and no one can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:31-39).
Romans 12:1-2 is Paul’s call to the Romans and to us to lead holy lives to the glory of God. However, that is in no way devoid of God’s love for us. Instead, it is because God loves us and does so eternally that we are to present ourselves as living sacrifices. This is made clear to us in Romans 8. My specific focus here will be Romans 8:31-39. In this, we have the assurance that nothing and no one can separate us from God’s love. Paul does this through a question-and-answer format.
He is for Us, So Joyously Pursue Him Today
But to stretch even farther back to Romans 5-8:30, there is a possibility that the question “Who can be against us?” can be answered in two ways. Obviously no one, now that we are in Christ, but in light of our former manner of life, God was against us (Romans 3:23; 5:1)! This would have remained so had we not come to know Christ. But now, through Christ, he is for us. And no one, utterly no one, can be against us. No one can bring a charge against us because God has justified us. No one can condemn us because the One who could is now our Lord and Savior.
Finally, no one can separate us from Christ’s love, even ourselves, for he chose to love us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). Oh what a provocation to holiness that should be! According to Peter, God’s choice of us based on his love should fuel fruit (2 Peter 1:5-11). It is with an everlasting love that God has loved you, dear saint. Wouldn’t you, in turn, yearn for him and live for his glory? Your journey towards holiness must not wait until tomorrow. In light of all God has done, why not now?