daily walking

I came across this on Instagram early this morning, and I immediately took a screen shot of it.  It was posted originally by Sacred Holidays, an organization I follow on Instagram, and it was too good not to share on my own feed.  I'll let you see it for yourself.

It sticks out to me because these days, everyone says something along the lines of, "Do what feels good!", or "Do what makes you happy!".  But that's not the way we're called to live, if we are believers and followers of the Lord Jesus, and if we confess Him as our Lord and Savior.  The world may think that and get away with it, but we're supposed to look a lot different than the world around us.  Here are several verses that tell me why I know this to be true. 

These are some from the Old Testament, and are found in Leviticus.

Leviticus 11:44-45 says this: "For I am the LORD your God, so you must consecrate yourselves and be holy because I am holy..."

Leviticus 19:2 says, "Speak to the entire Israelite community and tell them: Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy."

Leviticus 20:7-8 says, "Consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am the LORD your God.  Keep my statutes and do them: I am the LORD who sets you apart."

(In context, God was speaking to Moses in these verses, and was giving him instructions on what to go back and say to the Israelites.)

Here is another, this one from the New Testament. 

1 Peter 1:15-16 says this: "But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; for it is written, 'Be holy, because I am holy.' "

Be holy...the Lord has set us apart from those who do not belong to Him.  That doesn't mean we will get it right one hundred percent of the time.  We are all sinful beings, and we mess up thousands of times each day.  But we shouldn't continue on in our practice of sinning...in my mind, there are intentional sins that are committed (things like promiscuity, adultery, slander, murder, gossip, quarrels, taking the Lord's name in vain), and there are unintentional sins (like thinking a mean thought, saying something we shouldn't, snapping at our husbands for no apparent reason).  Does that even make sense?  Like I said, that is not in the bible, it's just the way I think about sin and meaning to sin or practicing it, and just waking up in the morning already such a sinful human being. 

What being holy and set apart DOES mean is living out every single day the faith in Jesus that we profess.  It means we are kind.  We are humble, and we place the needs of others before our own.  We confess when we are wrong, and we very quickly make amends.  We spend time with the Lord every single day.  Even if it's not actually sitting down to read the bible, we should be talking to Him and praying every single day of our lives.  We should be reading His word.  We should take that word that He gave to all the different writers in the bible, and we should apply it to our lives. 

We are to be holy, because He is holy.  We should be pointing others to Jesus, in our conduct, in the way we look and dress, and in the way we speak.  We shouldn't be talking so much that we don't give Him time to speak (I don't mean audibly, but through His word).  We should be living a very reverent, worshipful life, and not just on Sunday, when we go to our nice, comfy churches and sit.  We should consider every single moment in the day a chance to worship the Lord in how we conduct ourselves. 

We have to live IN this world, but we don't have to act like this world.  We should look the opposite of everyone around us, if we are in a room full of people we don't know, because chances are a lot or even most of those people are not believers and followers of Jesus.  We should always be looking for opportunities to represent Him to those around us.  For some people, we may be the only glimpse of Him they ever see.  That's a sobering thought! 

We have a responsibility and we have a charge.  Be holy, because He is holy.  It's pretty simple.  Like I said before, we are human, and daily we really mess things up, but God is a merciful God, and He forgives us, and He lavishes His grace and love upon us.  To the best of our ability, we should be living this way, if we belong to Him.  I am telling myself this, not just random people who may be reading this.  I pray every single day that His Holy Spirit would fill me anew and lead me and guide me.  And a million times a day, I have to confess something to Him and ask Him to forgive me. 

He is so good to show us our sin, when we ask, and the bible says that He is our helper, and our strength.  I pray this inspires someone today to examine their own hearts, and to spend time with Him.  You'll never be sorry for spending time with the Lord!  Once you do that and start to do that consistently, you'll be sorry for any time you DON'T spend with Him. 

Love to all.