Many believers of Christ have accepted the fact that through adoption we are now sons and daughters of the Most High. But do we really know what, in God’s eyes, this status imply? My brother, my sister, let’s look into the Word of God to understand our real identity in Christ, so that we may live a life full and complete as designed by God.
You see, Jesus should be our inspiration for what we want our lives to become. The Bible says: “Such a high priest truly meets our need—onewho is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens” (Hebrews 7:26) To better understand this, let’s read another version of the Bible: “26 He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven (NLT version). This is really amazing, my friend. Yes, the thing that set Jesus above everybody else was that He was unstained by sin. He was holy and separate from sinners. Therefore, for us to be like Jesus, we must be the same way. That is the reason the Lord invites each one of us, individually: “Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you. And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters’ says the Lord Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:17-18). The Message Bible says, “So leave the corruption and compromise; leave it for good. Don’t link up with those who will pollute you. I want you all to Myself. I’ll be a Father to you; you’ll be sons and daughters to Me.”
My friend, Jesus is holy and to be like Him we need to cleanse ourselves “from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1). Yes, as we need to “purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God” (2 Corinthians 7:1 NIV). If we are invited to do so, then it means that it is wrong to believe that only Jesus can be holy and that no other person can reach such a high standard of living. You see, as followers of Christ we should understand that it is not our faith, love or confession of Christ that makes us acceptable to God… it is our conduct once we call ourselves His sons and daughters. True, our best behaviour cannot make us righteous before God because it is His righteousness that makes us righteous and it is His blood that makes us holy. This means that we don’t cleanse ourselves from all sin to become holy, but we purify ourselves because we are already made holy. In short, we need to let what is inside of us (the Holy presence of God through His Spirit) dominate how we talk and act on the outside… Unfortunately, many people never try to better themselves because the enemy has convinced them that holiness is something they will never achieve. My friend, it is walking in Jesus’ steps that can help you climb all mountains, including that of holiness. That’s the reason why Apostle paul said: “Imitate me, just as I imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). Stay blessed in Jesus’ name.