I Ain't Always Been this Pretty! #HOLINESS

Holy means dedicated or consecrated to God.

Many times people relate holiness as acting or being better than someone else. You might hear someone say things such as, “What makes you so holy?” when they’ve been corrected about something that they are doing. Holiness does not mean that you think you are better, it means that you have dedicated your life and yourself to God and His purposes. Will you hurt feelings and offend people because of your stand? YES! But, it is our stand; it is how God would have for us to be about His business.

Now, the Bible tells us in 1 Peter 1:13-16 ¹³ Wherefore, having girded up the loins of your mind, be sober and hope with perfect stedfastness in the grace which will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; ¹⁴ as children of obedience, not conformed to your former lusts in your ignorance; ¹⁵ but as he who has called you is holy, be ye also holy in all your conversation; ¹⁶ because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy.

There is some work to do in order that we might reach the magnitude of holiness that God has for us to be. We should not consider that we will be as God, but that we will always continually work towards the destination of becoming holy. It is a difficult road, at times, but we must enrich our lives with such things and people which causes us and pushes us to continuously reach UP towards the goal of the higher calling in Jesus Christ.

Do we become holy by our own free will? No. We become holy because God makes us holy. Through the Holy Spirit which was imparted to us when we were baptized, we can safely say that we are holy. No amount of discipline of the flesh can make you holy. Remember, we are still as dirty rags to God. (Isaiah 64:6) Among those who believe holiness can be experienced in this life, many attempt to attain it through their own efforts. They abstain from all of the things they consider sinful, believing that the absence of sin equals holiness, which it does not. No amount of discipline of the flesh can produce holiness. It cannot be obtained through human effort. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8:6-8.

That doesn’t mean it is permissible for our human nature to be unrestrained. There should be restraint, but that alone will not produce holiness.

Now in our text God said, You shall be holy, for I am holy (Leviticus 19:2). Only God is holy. So in order for us to become holy, we must accept His holiness. There must be transference of His holiness from Him to us. Our sin nature must be removed and His holiness must take its place. The Bible tells us in Eph. 4:22-24  to put off your old self,^[a] which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, ²³ and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. It is a matter of displacement. For example, let a tube full of black golf balls represent you and your sinful nature. Then take white golf balls, representing the Lord’s holiness and begin putting them in one end of the tube. Every time you put a white ball in one end, a black ball comes out of the other end. The principle of displacement is at work. Christ is invading your life and as He does, He conquers your sinful nature and overcomes it. He invades one aspect of your life after another.

Of course, the displacement principle doesn’t just automatically happen. It happens for those who believe and take the initiative with their faith to make it happen. Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it. Matthew 16:24-25.
The way the displacement was presented was actually a little over-simplified. Those little black balls don’t just fall out. The sin nature has to die, and of course, it is reluctant to do so. Consequently, it is not a pleasant experience. So if we want to be holy, we have to be dedicated to the means. It would be great if the Lord would make one swing with His two-edged sword and the work would be completed. But it doesn’t happen that way. It is more like cutting a dog’s tail off one inch at a time. It would probably happen much faster if we gave the Lord greater access. We tend to put up walls. It is difficult to lose that self-preservation instinct. The greater you love the Lord the easier it will be to submit to the work of the cross.

God continues to mold us and make us into what He wants us to be, which is holy. It is painful at times as He presses us in areas that we would rather not be pressed. Isaiah 64:8 says:  And now, Jehovah, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

There is an old story told of a couple who went to England to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary and shopped at a beautiful antique store. They both liked antiques and pottery, and especially tea-cups, and so spotting an exceptional cup, they asked "May we see that? We've never seen a cup quite so beautiful." As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the tea-cup spoke... "You don't understand." It said, "I have not always been a tea-cup. There was a time when I was just a lump of red clay. My master took me and rolled me pounded and patted me over and over and I yelled out, Don't do that. I don't like it! "Let me alone," but he only smiled, and gently said; "Not yet!!" "Then, WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. "Stop it! I'm getting so dizzy! I'm going to be sick!" I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, quietly; 'Not yet.' He spun me and poked and prodded and bent me out of shape to suit himself and then...he put me in the oven. 

I never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked and pounded at the door. "Help! Get me out of here!" 'Not yet.' When I thought I couldn't bear it another minute, the door opened. He carefully took me out and put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. Oh, that felt so good! "Ah, this is much better," I thought. But, after I cooled he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible.. "Oh, please, Stop it! Stop it!" I cried. He only shook his head and said. "Not yet..." Then suddenly he put me back into the oven. Only it was not like the first time. This time it was twice as hot and I just knew I would suffocate. I begged... I pleaded... I screamed...I cried... I was convinced I would never make it.

 I was ready to give up and just then the door opened and he took me out and again placed me on the shelf, where I cooled and waited and waited, wondering "What's he going to do to me next?" An hour later he handed me a mirror and said "Look at yourself." And I did... I said, "That's not me, that couldn't be me. It's beautiful. I'm beautiful!" Quietly he spoke: "I want you to remember, then," he said, "I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just left you alone, you'd have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. "I know it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened. You would not have had any color in your life. "And if I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't have survived for long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. Now you are what I had in mind when I first began with you."

As you can hear from this story, the vessel had not always been that pretty cup that we see sitting on the shelf, just as we have not always been that pretty little Christian sister sitting on the pew. It took a lot of work from the potter and the willingness of the clay to be made into what the potter had initially envisioned, a vessel set aside for holiness. As we continue our walk towards holiness and God continues to mold us, allow Him to do so. He intends for our holiness to come shining through at the end of each process in our lives. At each stage of the process, you become closer and closer to what God envisioned you to be.

When sisters ask you, “How did you get this strong?” Tell them: “I ain’t always been this pretty!”

When asked, “How do you hold your tongue when people treat you like that?” tell them: “I ain’t always been this pretty!”

When someone says, “You must think you’re all that and a bag of chips!” tell them: “I ain’t always been this pretty!”

When a sister says to you: “Honey, I wouldn’t take that off my husband if I were you!” tell her: “I ain’t always been this pretty!”

While going through any of life’s trials, instead of screaming, “Take me out! Stop it!” Praise God for the molding towards holiness and scream to the top of your lungs, “I ain’t always been this pretty!”