Day 13 - The Naturally Holy Life

It is just as easy and natural for a Christian to live a holy life as it is for a humanist to live a secular one. The latter does not have to strive to lead his life in the way he does, it comes quite naturally for him to do so.

Life, for any one of us, proceeds from the heart. If the heart is the mountain spring then the life is the stream that flows from it. As the spring is, so will be the stream.

Neither is it difficult to lead a life of devotion when our hearts are pure. This is the secret of purity of life, so the question remains, 'How can I hold onto a pure life?'

We need to make some allowance here; solid belief on its own does not rule out all temptations. When we say a tree is firmly rooted, we do not say the wind never blows on it and shakes its branches.

In the first place, hearts are washed pure with the blood of Jesus and soon afterwards comes the command to keep ourselves holy.

To keep the heart pure, we need to keep it filled with whatever is pure. To keep darkness out of my room, I only need to keep it filled with light.

I could of course go around the room and carefully seal up every crack and crevice in the doors and windows but it will all be to no avail if someone puts the light out! If they do that, darkness will come back after nightfall however hard I have tried to keep it out.

But if I simply keep the room filled with light during the hours of darkness, then I need do nothing to seal up any cracks. I can leave the door open and the curtains drawn and darkness will never come in.

In the same way we do not have to work hard at keeping impurities out of our hearts; we simply need to ensure that purity is always present within them.

But if electricity is the source of light for my room, what is the source of purity for my heart?

"And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times." PS 12:6

"How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word." PS 119:9

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." COL 3:16 - 17

Hide the word away in your heart and you will be kept pure. Keep the heart filled with the Word of God. It is the way to live as the Bible reads.

To have a nicely bound volume of the Scriptures lying on your coffee table will not keep your life holy. We have to have the Word in our hearts. To live a Bible life is the only true and right way to live.

"This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people." Hebrews 8:10