Today’s blog, written by Pastor Sam Lee of Catalyst Agape Church in New Jersey, was first posted on July 20, 2014

Spiritual Food for Thought for the Weekend

“Being Holy”

1 Peter 2:1-2

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

We, as Christians, have a wrong conception of what holiness is.  Many feels that a holy life is something we grudgingly live in order to please a demanding God, taking away pleasures in life.  Our negative attitude towards holiness is partly due to inadvertently glorifying sin (e.g., in our entertainment choices) instead of God.  For instance, during my high school days, I would hear so many testimonies of how they used to party, get drunk, do drugs, and live immoral lives. They would go in great details of their life of debauchery with lots of excitement, and at the very end, they would squeeze in how Christ came into their lives; and now, their changed lives merely consist of Bible studies, prayer meetings, and Sunday services.

Yet Peter tells us that holiness is not about taking away things, but something good that is added to our lives. It can be compared to tasty milk that is given to a newborn baby.   In a similar way, to a spiritual newborn is given pure spiritual milk, consisting of, among other things, God’s word and the Holy Spirit that can help us to be separated from the values of the world (a.k.a., holiness).

Now, my third daughter doesn’t understand why we, as parents, don’t allow her to eat candy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Though she might misunderstand our intentions, our reason is simple: because we love her, we want to give our daughter something better to eat; something that will make her healthy and give her strength as well as to make her grow.

And our God feels the same way.  If we get rid of “all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind,” that is, things that hurt us, the Lord has room now to give us something so much better.  As we let go of those things that are not good for us, God fills our lives abundantly with far greater things (joy, peace, a clear conscience and purpose, to name a few). So today, let’s clear out the junk in our hearts so that God can bless us with his precious things!

Prayer: Dear God, help me to be holy by adding goodness and kindness to my faith. Lord, embolden me to get rid of junks out of my heart, such as bitterness and resentment, but choose love and forgiveness.  Please help me because I cannot do it on my own. Amen.

Bible Reading for Today: Isaiah 32