Holiness has become a dying discipline among God’s people.  This is a tragedy and one which should be remedied.  Holiness is the primary theme in the book of Leviticus to the people of Israel and a common theme in the Bible as a whole.  In short, God tells us in His Word, “Be different!  Do not act like everyone else.  You are special to Me.  Be like Me.”

1 Peter 1:13-16 instructs us,

Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;  Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

We live, however, in a world where we are bombarded regularly with sinful language and images.  What is accepted as “normal” today, would have been considered rude, crude, and socially unacceptable not that long ago.  To combat this, the Christian must always be on guard, rejecting those things that would pollute the mind and cause one to deviate from the path of holiness.

As the Scripture above teaches, those who are followers of Jesus Christ should not act as they once did.  We see this teaching several times in the Bible.  One particular passage is 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”  When we find ourselves slipping back into the old ways of thinking, we need to replace those “old things” with the new things of Jesus Christ.  Some common ways to do this include, prayer, Bible study, Scripture memory, practical ministry, and Christian fellowship.

So, let us get back to the discipline of holiness which relates so closely to other Christian disciplines.  Then, we will be able to serve the Lord effectively with purity and a clear conscience.