BE YE HOLY - 11

K – BE YE HOLY – 11

In striving daily to be holy, we need to develop holy habits.  What is a habit?  A regular tendency of action or attitude.  Frequent repetition causes habits to form.  Jerry Bridges in his book, The Pursuit of Happiness, gives four principles to develop holy habits. 

·        Frequent repetition develops and reinforces a habit.  When we say “no” to sin, we are developing a holy habit.

·        Never let an exception occur.  If we give in “just this once,” we make an exception for sin and it is easier to give in the next time.

·        Diligence in all areas is required to ensure success in one area.  We need to pursue holiness in all aspects of life.  We cannot pick and choose.  Jam. 2:10  It is like a glass of pure water with just one drop of black ink dropped into it.

·        Don’t be discouraged by failure.  God forgives and restores.  We just keep up our fight against sin and Satan.

For your own personal study, use Eph. 4:17-32 for a contrast between the old man and the new man in Christ with holy habits.  The discarded the old clothes of lying, stealing, nagging, and blaming and started new, holy habits of loving, encouraging, and forgiving.

Here are some of the holy habits that we should develop through frequent repetition.

·        Ps. 119:160  TRUTH OF SCRIPTURE  The words and laws of Scripture are true. All our thoughts and actions as well as attitudes must be measured against what the Word of God says.

·        Eph. 4:25  SPEAKING TRUTH  We must always have the habit of truth.  We cannot make one exception or our determination to be truthful will vanish.  Telling a lie is on almost every sin list.  It is easy to get in this habit.

·        Eph. 4:31;  Jam. 1:20  PATIENCE The habit of patience is very important to develop and can only be done by erasing anger from our lives.  It is much easier to show anger than to show patience. 

·        Eph. 4:29  UPLIFTING WORDS All of our conversation must be of a kind, uplifting spirit to one another.  Habits of complaining and grumbling are sometimes hard to break.  We do it so much we do not realize when we do it.  We cannot have thankful hearts if we are grumbling and complaining.

·        Phil. 4:8  FILTER OUR THOUGHTS  When we make a habit of using this verse as a filter for our thoughts, our holiness cannot help but grow.  Our thoughts will be pure. 

·        Ps. 101:3; Isa. 33:15  CONSISTENCY BETWEEN BELIEF AND PRACTICE We may say one thing and practice another.  This goes with the above.  Consistency must be practiced between what we say we believe and what we watch or read and that from which we are entertained.  Rom. 1:32

·        1 Cor. 16:13;  1 Cor. 15:58  STEADFAST, UNMOVEABLE IN FAITH  We are not blown about by every wind of doctrine.  Do we hide our faith?  We don’t want others to see us carrying our Bible or a religious book.  We may not speak up to defend the faith. 

·        1 Tim. 4:12;  Titus 2:7;  1 Pet. 2:21  BE AN EXAMPLE  Our lives may be the only sermon many have.  We need to make a habit of witnessing also.  Matt.28:20

·        Eph. 5:16  USE TIME WISELY   Make a habit of planning our time well.  There is so much to do for the Lord.  Redeem the time.  We cannot waste the days that the Lord has let us remain here on earth. 

·        Phil. 4:6;  Heb. 13:15  PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING  We take so much for granted.  We need to get into the habit of heartfelt praise and show God thankfulness every day.

·        Gal. 5:13,14  SERVE OTHERS    Christ left us this example.  Sometimes our eyes are closed to the needs of others.  We need the prayer on our heart found in Ps. 119:18  We become so concerned with the needs of “me” that we forget to focus on the needs of others.

·        Acts 2:25,28  PRACTICE THE PRESENCE OF GOD  We need God with us at all times.  Wherever we are and whatever we are doing, God can be with us.  (Providing we are within His will)

·        Ps. 119:11  BIBLE STUDY, PRAYER, MEDITATION  We will starve to our spiritual death without these.  Matt. 5:6

·        Acts 8:4;  Rom. 1:16  WITNESSING  We don’t have to be gifted as a preacher or teacher to witness about what Jesus has done for us, His blessings, and invite people to church and to learn about the Lord.

All of these are holy habits of which we need to develop together with the fruit of the Spirit.  Samuel Johnson said that the chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.  Have we let ourselves fall into spiritually unhealthy habits?  God will give us the strength, courage, and wisdom to develop holy habits IF we have a strong desire to do so and if we ask Him to help us.  Matt. 7:7