Hebrews 12:14, “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”
Did I read that right? Unless a person is holy, they are not saved… they will not see God… which means their sin is not forgiven? Ouch. There’s got to be some wiggle room in there somewhere for Paul’s statement, “What I don’t want to do I do and what I want to do I don’t do…” Or am I trying to rationalize my sin and placate my conscious? Yeah… I think that is what I’m trying to do…
Holiness is not a prescribed list of things we do and don’t do. Holiness is an attitude… a condition of the heart… a disposition of the soul… something that is impossible for humans to manufacture. It is something only God can bring about in a person.
In Matthew 5:6 it is written, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (God… to be holy?), for they shall be satisfied.”
Hunger and thrist cannot be willed into existence. They are the responses to a physiological need the body has. If the body is functioning properly and has been provided sufficient food and water, hunger and thirst are not present.
Man in his unconverted state is spiritually dead. Dead people don’t get hungry or thirsty (Read that again!). Only those who are alive experience hunger and thirst. Thus the only ones who hunger and thirst for righteousness are those who are saved.
Thus a test of our salvation! Those who are saved will… from within… crave, long for, seek after, desire the following:
To be more like Christ…
To be more loving, gracious, merciful, forgiving, compassionate…
To know God better…
To understand God’s Word more fully…
To worship with God’s people…
To be holy.
If a person does not have those desires… if they are not increasing in these things throughout their life… their condition before God is in doubt!
Question! HOW can a person have or obtain something that only God can bring about in them?
If there is any desire to know God… to be saved… to have sin forgiven… to be more like Christ, that means God is at work in a person for His glory and their salvation!