Holy habits for everyday life

June 17, 2014 by Julie 6 Comments

We’re already practicing holiness, to one degree or another. People might say you’re “all in” when it comes to letting God’s holiness drive your habits. Others might say you’re one of those who keeps God’s holiness and your habits in separate categories.

But what does God say? Does He leave it up to us to decide how holy we want to be, practically speaking? Or does He gives us any kind of a picture to show us how holiness looks in the everyday life of His followers?

The first part of Ephesians spells out our identity in Christ; the second illustrates how that identity matters. As we change who we were, contrast who we are, and imitate who the Father will always be, our new holiness in Jesus changes everything.

Holy habits due to change

Do you describe your dietary choices with words like “vegan, gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian, or sugar free?” A lifestyle change impacts how we spend, what we talk about, what decisions we make, and how we think. A lifestyle change is no small choice … if it’s authentic.

True followers seek “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22-24)

No one follows Christ without making a genuine change. Ephesians 4:22-32 shows us how a life of loving the Holy One requires putting off our old self and putting on the new. Old habits like lying, sinful anger, stealing, corrupt talk, and unforgiveness have to be put away. Like cleaning out Twinkies when we choose to go sugar free, past routines fall away as we take on holy habits in their place. True followers of Christ Jesus change.

Holy habits due to contrast

Sports seasons inspire fans to bring out team flags, wear jerseys, do cheers, and follow players. Devotees don’t follow every team; just their own. They may be aware of others, but they don’t buy into others. Real followers want their loyalty to be known. It’s the same for real Christ followers, “for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:8)

Instead of continuing to let darkness reign in our practical life, new life in Christ means the light of the Lord shines into every area of our personal everyday. The fruit of the Spirit within us comes out in how we talk to customers, discipline of our children, respond to hardships, solve financial problems, react to our mate, view our computer screen, deal with family relationships, see our culture, choose reading material, conduct our sexual life, participate in our local church, and get dressed daily. God’s light where darkness once reigned shines into every crack of our lifestyles.

The contrast brought by Christ can’t help but create holy habits where darkness once reigned.

Holy habits due to imitation

Reflection reveals the authenticity of our admiration. After all, isn’t imitation the highest form of flattery? A child’s mimicry on Fathers Day shows how much they watch, idolize, and strive to follow dad … or not. God’s unchanging holiness only requires a change in those who call Him “Abba,” Father. Our imitation brings Him praise.

For the children of God, holiness in practical living is the only believable response to the Father. “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God,” (Ephesians 5:1-2). Our growth in practicing holy living reveals the genuine nature of our adoption as sons of God.

Before we joined God’s family through Christ’s holy sacrifice, we were “sons of disobedience.“ When our father was the Devil, we imitated him. Once we’re adopted into God’s holy family, covered in a righteousness not our own, our Father is God, and we imitate Him through obedience. Like a child who grows older, revealing more and more of their father’s nature in the way they look, talk, walk, smile, laugh, and do life, so a child of God imitates the heavenly Father in holiness more and more.

A child of God has changed, lives in contrast to the world, and imitates the Father through holy habits in practical ways in everyday life.

Would you be willing to pray this prayer?

Father, You are my Father. I want to imitate You, like a genuine child who reflects Your nature. Would you make me alert to practical areas of my life where I need to mimic You more? Help me see where I’m acting more like the old me than the new me. Show me how to apply holiness in all of my life habits.

Adoption: It’s about the Father

October 11, 2012 by Lisa Burgess 8 Comments

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
Romans 8:14-15

If you’re a believer in Jesus as your Lord, you know it includes adoption by God, His Father. But how comfortable are you with that bond? Is your relationship with Him the central relationship in your life?

Does knowing you’re His daughter bring you the joy and security you’d hoped for?

Roman Adoption vs. Slavery

At the time of the apostle Paul’s writings, in the Roman world as now, a child from one family could legally be transferred to another family through adoption. He became an equal heir with any children by birth. He was often as equally loved as any natural-born child and treated no less inferior, according to Biblical scholar F. F. Bruce.

But what about a slave child brought into a family? Both the slave child and the family child were to do what they were told, go where they were sent, eat what was put before them. Neither had authority or control to make high-level decisions or to live on their own.

But there the similarities ended.

One lived in fear. The other did not.
One could make no plans. The other had choices.
One was property. The other was free.

The Father Difference

Were the children inherently different themselves? No. The difference was the adult in charge.

As Christians, we have all the privileges of the adopted child—the free child—not because we’re smarter or holier or more worthy, but because of the One who rescued us—the Father.

Led by the Spirit of God, as children of God (Romans 8:14), we no longer have a spirit of slavery to push us down in fear.

Still Afraid?

But I’ll admit I still live with fears. What if my husband loses his job or my daughter can’t have children or I end up with Alzheimer’s?

Do these worries mean I’m not a child of God?
No.

But it might mean I’m not putting total confidence in my adoptive Father and His promises. Not for a perfect life now—that’s never the promise—but to be held by a perfect Father through the imperfections here. Even though I’ve been given a full measure of the Spirit of adoption, I’m still in the process of fully accepting it.

Cry Abba, Father

In Romans 8:15, Paul uses both the Aramaic word for father, Abba, and the Greek word, Pater. Jesus used the same words in His passionate prayer to God in Gethsemane (Mark 14:36) when He called out “Abba, Father!”

But slaves weren’t allowed to use the more deeply affectionate terms Abba or Imma (mother) when speaking with their masters. Those were only meant for children.

Children like us—kids intentionally chosen and extravagantly loved into a family.

His Spirit breathes into our spirit, confirming our true identity as His children. He leads us away from the slavery of fears into a life of freedom. We can now not only say, but cry out, “Father,my Abba!”

What a beautiful birthright to inherit.

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ….
Romans 8:16-17

What, if any, insecurities do you still carry around needlessly, despite being a child of God?

What scriptures and experiences have helped you grow more confident in your adoption by our Abba, Father?

Please share—it’s family talk.

Our Heavenly Father Disciplines His Children

October 9, 2012 by Kathy Howard 1 Comment

Father and children, Father's discipline — My brother, Dad, and me, 1968

When I was growing up, my father loved me enough to discipline me when I needed it. Sometimes his discipline was to correct wrong behavior. For example, if I talked back to Mom, I lost my phone privileges.

Sometimes Dad’s discipline was for the purpose of teaching me something I needed to know to succeed in life. For instance, Dad chose me to rake the pine straw in the yard. This was not a simple chore. Twenty-four pine trees grew on my parent’s half-acre lot.

As an adolescent, I saw no point in this task. Even if I did rake, the grass would soon be covered again. Yet I grudgingly obeyed. Now that I am a parent myself, I appreciate Dad’s training. I learned that every member of the family needs to contribute. I learned to persevere through unpleasant, but necessary tasks. I learned that a job done well brings pleasurable results.

Discipline is one of the primary responsibilities of a parent. We’ve all seen children whose parents have obviously shirked their duty! They are not doing their children – or the rest of humanity – any favors. Discipline is necessary for a child to grow into a fully functioning, law-abiding, productive adult.

Our heavenly Father disciplines His children. In Hebrews 12:7-11, we learn God disciplines us out of love. When we experience His discipline it proves we are His children. Although it can be painful, God disciplines us for our good. His purpose is spiritual growth and the development of Christ-like character.

The Greek word translated as “discipline” in Hebrews 12 is paideuo. It carries the ideas of both correcting or chastening and education or training. God’s discipline in the lives of His children corrects wrong behavior and equips us for the road ahead.

God picked you out for Himself and adopted you to be His child. Now He lovingly fulfills His responsibility to you as a parent through discipline. He moves to correct wrong behavior so you can share in His holiness. He teaches and trains you so you can grow into the spiritually mature woman He created you to be.

In what ways do you sense God’s discipline in your life today?

All One in Christ Jesus through Our Adoption

April 23, 2012 by Sandra Peoples 2 Comments

Yesterday we had a speaker from Gospel for Asia at our church, sharing stories of tragedy and triumph from their ministry in India. He repeatedly called us, “brother and sisters.” Here was a man who has spent half his life in India, calling us “brothers and sisters.” And it’s true! As different as our backgrounds and lives are, we are brothers and sisters.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Galatians 3:28,

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

The family of God exploded at Pentecost. Suddenly, it wasn’t just Jewish free men who were God’s chosen people, it was every person who confessed Jesus as Savoir, no matter their heritage, pedigree, or gender.

Paul goes on in Galatians, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba, Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir though God” (4:4-7).

It was Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross that opened the door wide for those of us born two thousand years later to be called sons of God. Not because of anything we have done, but because He loves us. I now have all the rights and privileges of a son. We are heirs of the promises God made to His people throughout Scripture—promises of His love, protection, guidance, and sanctification.

My family is in the process of adopting a child from Ethiopia. There’s a little boy right now halfway across the world who doesn’t even know that America exists. He doesn’t know there’s a daddy, mommy, and two big brothers waiting for him. But we have been working to get him home for almost two years. One day (pray it’s soon!), we’ll fly over the ocean, sign some papers, fly back, sign some more papers, and he will be ours. He will be my son. He will have two brothers. Our family will be a visible sign of the beautiful truth of Scripture. No matter who we are or where we come from, we are united as brothers and sisters, “for in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God, through faith” (Gal. 3:26).

Praise God today that through Christ, we can become part of His family!

Joseph- Forgotten Father

December 30, 2010 by ScriptureDig 6 Comments

Driving home one night last week I noticed a nativity scene in front of a church. Joseph had been blown over by the wind so you could really only see Mary and Jesus. No big deal, I thought to myself. It’s just Joseph. Then I got home and watched this video:

Joseph’s side of the story has never been so real to me. His love for Mary, his pain, his joy, and his devotion to his wife and son.

We don’t know a lot about the life of Joseph, but one characteristic that stands out in the verses that describe his life is his obedience.

He was obedient to take Mary as his wife after he heard the word of the Lord in a dream.
He was obedient to circumcise Jesus and present Him in in the temple, according to Jewish law.
He was obedient to take his family to Egypt to protect Jesus from Herod.
He was obedient to take his family back to Israel and settle in Nazareth.
He was obedient to take his family to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover each year.

Even though Joseph was not Jesus’ biological father, he was obedient to the call God placed on his life to raise Jesus as his own. As my family moves through the adoption process and hopes to have our new son home from Ethiopia by next Christmas, the story of Joseph touches me in new ways. May we all be obedient to raise the children God has blessed us with to honor Him!