Sometimes I think as Christians, we try to dress the part. We try to walk a certain way, talk a certain way, pray a certain way and even dress a certain way.
As a young girl, I use to think that holiness had something to do with the outer appearance. One of the holiest ladies that I knew, (the pastors wife), always had everything together. Her clothes were the finest, her hair was never out of place, her nails were always filed and painted pretty and every Sunday she was in her place (at the piano). She didn't say much, but she always had a smile on her face. To me, as a young girl, this was the perfect picture of holiness.
As I got older, I quickly realized that make up, clothes and having the ability to play an instrument has absolutely nothing to do with holiness. I also realized that those who stand up on the platform are not always the perfect person that we all so often put up on a pedestal. Holiness is not the outer appearance.
Unfortunately, there are alot of people who think like I did when I was younger. We are looking inside the walls of the church and we are defining what holiness is by what we see or by what we don't see. But the truth of it is, it doesn't matter how much make up we apply or how many designer clothes we wear, holiness is not something that we can acquire by changing our wardrobe or looks. We cannot just dress the part.
The more we read God's Word and understand His ways, the more our attitudes and behaviors change. The closer we walk with Him, the more we will come to realize that holiness has absolutely nothing to do with our outer appearance but it has everything to do with what resides on the inside.
Holiness is something that only God can identify and define. God looks past our outer shell, He looks at our heart. He sees what is pure and what is unclean. None of us, even on our best days, can obtain holiness in our own strength. To be holy is a change of heart, it is an indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us. It is an obedience to His will and call on our lives. These are all things that occur inside and not on the outside.
Even though holiness starts on the inside, it should also seep to the outside for others to see. But we must remember that on our own, holiness is impossible to acquire. We cannot just dress the part, when we get the call to obey Him, we must go as we are and let Him adorn us with His blood and His power.
2 TIMOTHY 1:9 (niv)"He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time."
Are you ready to answer the call?
1 comment:
Great post Laurie! I sometimes judge a person's level of holiness by what they see on the outside. But I soon forget that what is on the inside doesn't often match.
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