Yes, we can live holy lives. We ask God to forgive and He does; not only does he forgive, but He remembers our sin no more (Hebrews 8:12). The scripture says be ye holy for I am holy (1 Peter 1:16). If it wasn’t possible to be holy then God wouldn’t have commanded us to be holy as He is holy. It is possible. We often hear some people say, “I am a just sinner saved by grace.” There are two schools of thought at play here: (1) I am a sinner and (2) I am saved by grace. We are either one or the other, we cannot be both. Sweet and bitter water cannot come forth from the same fountain. If we are redeemed by the blood of Jesus after repenting of sin, we are under grace; we are no longer under the bondage of sin. Once we’re under grace, we remain under grace and we are told to remain under grace; for God has made us a new creature in Christ; behold, old things have passed away and now we are new (2 Corinthians 5:17).
It is “religion” that keeps people at the cross after accepting salvation. It is “religion” that keeps people in bondage to the past—in bondage to the old man. When we become born-again we are washed in the blood of the Lamb and the old man is cleansed, he is renewed. We are no longer under the bondage of the old—we are no longer just a sinner saved by grace; we become new men in Christ Jesus and therefore, we should walk as new men and women in God. Yes, before we accepted Jesus we were merely sinners; but now we are the redeemed of the Lord (1 Corinthians 6:20) and the law of sin and death no longer applies (Romans 8:2). We are no longer under the curse of sin (Galatians 3:13) for Christ has redeemed us from the curse, being made a curse for us; so now we have the privilege of grace and grace is where we are supposed to remain after we have received God’s precious gift of the cross. We are not to return to the cross every time we have a misstep. We are to go directly to the Father for restoration when we fall short of the glory.
So how do we live holy once we understand we are no longer slaves to sin but we are redeemed to grace? We live according to the instruction of the Word. We accept that we are no longer strangers to the great gospel of grace but now we are grafted into the Family of God (Romans 11:17); and we walk in our title as Children of the Most High. That’s the first step. The second step is to speak the Word. Our words are powerful, we must be careful about what we say—what we confess. We have to go from reading the Word to speaking the Word over our lives. Even medical science has taught us that positive confession has a definite impact on a person’s attitude and character. Positive confessions and positive affirmations foster an environment of victory, whether a person is saved or unsaved. If we hear something often enough it takes root in our soul and when we saturate ourselves in God’s information, then we begin to develop godly character; that information promotes an environment of confidence and we will naturally gravitate towards dispositions and attitudes that reflect godliness. Righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Ghost are attributes of people who have developed holiness in their walk with God (Romans 14:17). The fruits of this holiness are love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). These fruits are the evidence of holy living.
If we are made in Their image (Genesis 1:26) and through the sacrifice of Jesus we are grafted into the family of God, then we do indeed possess the ability to live holy and thus we are no longer old sinners saved by grace. We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21); and if we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, then His DNA runs through our veins and thus His disposition and attitude runs through our spirit. Glory! If a Believer can only see themselves as an ole sinner, they will struggle to accept this truth. It is only after we really understand who we are in Christ that we can begin to allow ourselves to see ourselves the way He sees us: as a holy people, a royal priesthood, (1 Peter 2:9), a member of The Family. Hallelujah! What wonderful news! What an amazing God we serve! This is such great news saints! So let’s not become weary in well-doing. Let’s continue to “work” the Word of God in our lives and see ourselves as He sees us. We are under grace and grace gives us the capacity to receive the finished work of Jesus Christ at the cross. Once we leave the cross, we are members of the Royal Family of God and membership has its privileges. We are indeed capable of being holy like Jesus, our sample Son. We can be holy and live holy because He has made us worthy to sit in high places with Him (Ephesians 2:6).
Let us get rid of the “religious” spirit that has held us in bondage, and take our rightful place as son’s and daughters of the Most High God and begin to speak holiness over our lives. Be persistent to do this and when the enemy tries to come against your thinking, remind him of who you really are—you are the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus, you are no longer a slave to sin. Some days it may not look like we’re the righteousness of God; after all, trials will come and we can sometimes fall into old thinking patterns, but we must bear in mind what HE says about us in the Word. In our own perspective, we may not see ourselves as a holy people and a royal priesthood, but from God’s perspective, we are the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus; and therefore, we can be holy.
We must continue reading the Bible; confessing God’s Word over our lives; praying in the Holy Ghost; and making changes to our speech and to our understanding as God develops our faith from glory to glory. Yes, we can live a holy life, but it begins by understanding who we are in Jesus so Holy Spirit can be given full reign to shape and develop our character in a way that produces godly results. The Bible says, “He who is able to bridle his tongue and not offend in word and deed is perfect” (James 3:2). The scripture doesn’t say here that controlling the tongue is impossible; however, we must realize it takes time to develop Biblical thinking patterns that reflect God’s character in us. It will happen if we do not give up on the process. Controlling what comes out of our mouth is critical to having the victory over old mindsets. We must ask Holy Spirit to show us where we may be speaking words of negativity and death over our lives and He will correct us. It will take time to get the flesh “under” the obedience of the Word, but we cannot return to broken thinking. If we have a misstep, we must quickly repent and get back on track with what the Word of God says about us. The Bible says, “Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” (James 1:4). It’s doable saints; we can have whatsoever we desire when we pray if we believe (Mark 11:24) and we know Jesus desires that we walk like Him in ‘word’ and in ‘deed’. So praise God! With Him truly ALL things are possible! Let’s seek to be holy like Jesus and trust God with the process; we are no longer sinners; we are indeed saved by grace.
Are we not officials in the kingdom of God? Don’t we represent Jesus Christ in this earth? Are we not sons and daughters of the most High God? We learn from the Bible that God Himself called Abraham a father of many nations. It is referenced for us again in the Book of Romans, 4:17 as it is written, “…a father of many nations have I made you in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.” The scripture also teaches us to imitate Jesus. We are reminded in I John 4:17 to call those things that are not as though they were. If we are to be imitators of Jesus who only did what He saw the Father doing, and only said what He heard the Father saying, then wouldn’t this scripture also apply to us as believer’s today?