Unholier than thou!

It is almost humorous how people, who do not want to examine themselves, do not want to get right with God, and do not want to continue to grow, accuse us of thinking we are holier than they.

In fact, if they see us living in a more godly way, it is because of our ever deepening awareness of our un-holiness. We must see, not just as an abstract thought, but in actuality, that “in me dwelleth is no good thing”. That “without him I can do absolutely nothing”. That “his ways are not my ways, his thoughts are not my thoughts, for as the universe extends beyond the earth so are his ways more than mine.”

We must see, in fact, that we are the chief of sinners.

We must realize that nothing we can do now or in the future could ever pay for our sins or make God owe us one.

I remember a friend who had been walking in faith for about 3 years. At that time I had been saved for about 50 years. He asked me, “when do we arrive at the point that we are not struggling anymore?” I gave him the disappointing news that the answer is, never, until we see the Lord.

Throughout life our awareness should grow of 2 things:

#1 That in me dwells no good thing. romans 7:18

#2 That, in him, I find infinite power, wisdom, courage, and stamina. I find the ability to be loving to those who hate me, kind to those who are mean to me, patient with those who are impatient, gentle with those who are rough. I need to act in the fact of who I am in Christ while remembering that, apart from Christ, I am, in fact, un-holier than everyone. Galatians 2:20

Paul was wrong when he wrote: This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I Paul am chief. (To cut him some slack, he had not met me yet!)I Timothy 1:15

Why those who think that they are pretty good react to us, who know that we are un-holier, is that we have learned to rest in and act in who we are in Christ, and that is definitely holier than any normal person can act. But we know that our holiness does not come from us and is available to the other person. We thus call them to admit their own un-holiness so that they might also be filled with the holiness of Christ. What is so offensive about that?

We need to live in such a way that when people see our good works, they conclude that there must be a God because people as un-holy, as we obviously are, could not act that way without God’s help. We have this holiness in an un-holy vessel of clay so that people will look at the picture and not the frame, at the content and not the pot. Matthew 5:16, 2 Corinthians 4:7

Do you have the courage to be shown your own un-holiness? Start with scripture for all of it reproves. Listen to the Holy Spirit who reproves of sin, of righteousness, and of judgement to come. But do not wallow in what you find out. Rejoice and be exceeding glad. Call a gathering of friends and family for a party and when they want to know why? Tell them that you can prove that you are worse than you thought (they will say, “we knew that!”) and now God will do something about it.

It is like a doctor pointing out that the cause of your fevers and shaking chills is an abscess on your spleen. This is great news because he can now do something about it. And the Holy Spirit is more than able to correct what he reproves and then purify and use us to help others as a result.