What’s the connection between belief in Jesus and holiness? Why are Christians expected to practice holiness? What about works? We’re not saved because of them, yet we’re supposed to pursue holiness. So how does this all come together?
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” (John 3:18-21 NKJV)
I’ve read this chapter of the Bible for years and it always seemed to me as if Jesus was referring to two separate things—believing in Him, and living in the light. But really, if you think about it, Jesus is actually explaining that believing in Him results in living in the light!
If we believe that Jesus was with God and was God; that He is in the most perfect sense the Son of God come from the Father—then we will respond by abandoning anything unholy in our life.
We’re condemned only if we refuse to believe in Jesus, and continue whatever unholy behavior we’re engaged in. Jesus is light—there is no darkness in God and Jesus, as the express representation of the Father, is God—but if we refuse to come to the light because our deeds are evil, we are still in our sins.
This is why we avoid Him when we’ve sinned. Have you ever noticed that there are times when you intentionally seem to try to fill your mind and time with thoughts and activities other than God? If you go back and dissect the situation, it is entirely possible there is something you did that is bothering you, and just like Adam and Eve—you’re hiding from God. Dallas Willard, in Renovations of the Heart, quotes Thomas Watson saying, “A sinner crowds God out of his thoughts. He never thinks of God, unless with horror, as the prisoner thinks of the judge.”
When we sin, our conscience condemns us. Whenever we sin, if we don’t recognize it, repent, and confess it to God—we start avoiding fellowship with Him. Some years ago a lovely saint said we should keep short accounts with God. It’s true. We should never let time pass during which we refusing to stand down from trespassing against Him.
The reason the Bible clearly states we’re saved by God’s free gift of grace through Jesus (not works) is because we can’t earn our way into heaven; it’s only because of Jesus that we can be forgiven. This doesn’t mean God doesn’t want us to be good, though!
“Jesus came to save us from our sins.” How many times have you heard that? He did come to save us from our sins, but He wants us to be pursuing holiness! Good works of our own won’t save us, but holiness is the result of us really believing Jesus is God—there is a very real difference between works and pursuing holiness.
We are freed to love God when we abandon our sins, after recognizing Jesus is really God’s Son—the very Word of God who was with God and is God, made flesh. And when we love God—well, we can’t help thinking about whomever we love! To again quote Thomas Watson:
“The first fruit of love is the musing of the mind upon God…By this we may test our love to God. What are our thought most upon? Can we say we are ravished with delight when we think on God? Have our thoughts got wings? Are they fled aloft? Do we contemplate Christ and glory?”
And whatever we think about much is what we will become more like. It’s the meaning of this verse, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” II Corinthians 3:18 NKJV)
Immersing ourselves in the holiness of God and our Lord Jesus Christ forms greater holiness in us! But the first step is abandoning our sin, because otherwise we’ll just be still running away from Jesus.
Genuinely from the heart believing Jesus is God, will motivate us to abandon our sin. Abandoning our sin leads us to seek God out, rather than hide from Him as we did before. Spending time with Him causes us to love Him. Loving Him causes us to think more and more about Him. And immersing ourselves in Him is what causes us to reflect His holy nature more—“from glory to glory;” His glory becomes formed in us.
The end goal—which is only obtainable through a genuine faith in Jesus—is our holiness, which is, remember, the absence of the destructive and harmful influence of sin in us.
Dear Lord God,
Help me stop running from You, so I can love You, and become more like You. Help me bloom in You, through Jesus Christ! Amen.
essentialdailyscriptures 