On the path to holiness.

Romans 6:22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

=======================================

My life can get quite distracted sometimes. I plan and get busy and then I plan some more. When my plate get’s too full or something happens to my plan, then I go to GOD to get things straight with my plans. The problem with this thinking is I never asked GOD which path HE wanted me on in the first place.

I read this scripture this morning and I realized something I had never seen before. I noticed the benefits of following GOD “leads” to holiness. I had to think about what that meant. All along I was treating GOD as if HE were some sort of wish granter, when in reality HE desires more out of me.

• GOD wants me to follow HIS ways of compassion when I don’t feel like it. 
• GOD wants me to show love to those who don’t deserve it. 
• GOD wants me to be righteous when it isn’t easy to be righteous.
• GOD wants me to treat HIS humans just as HE has treated me.

GOD has set me free from the ultimate consequences of sin, but there are still “local” consequences of sin. When I sin I run away from GOD’s truth and I justify “my way.” The more I sin, the better I am at sinning. If I lie, I will become good at lying.

• The more I stay away from sin the more I see and hear GOD.
• The more I stay away from sin the holier I become.
• The more I stay away from sin the more temptations seem to come in my life.

The consequence of being a sinner is death. Wait, doesn’t everyone have to die? Yes, so death must mean something else. GOD is so powerful that HE can make a person miserable in “ever increasing” ways. Death means eternal separation from GOD so life means an eternity of “ever increasing” excitement.

 

True holiness may never be reached, but I will keep trying. It means dropping my sins and judgmental attitude toward those who commit the same sins I used to. I no longer see the benefits of following GOD as attaining large sums of money or a title rather HE will put me and my family on a path of holiness which will result in eternal life.

• Are you hiding sin in your life?
• Why are you holding on to it?
• Can you openly confess your sins to everyone?
• Are you judging someone for the same sins you commit?