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“Holiness:
Building A Better Me”
Building A Better Me”
Part
1: Maturing Our Faith
Hebrews 5-6
11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard=
to
explain because you are sl=
ow to
learn. 12 In fact, though by this time
you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all=
over
again. You need milk, not so=
lid
food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being
still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the
mature, who by constant u=
se have
trained themselves to distinguish good
from evil. [6] Therefore let u=
s leave
the elementary teachings
about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2 instruction about
baptisms, the layin=
g on of
hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And God permitting, we will do so.
•
Building A Better Me
•“To Perfect=
221;
something means to narrow the gap between
the ideal and where I am:&nb=
sp;
fewer mistakes, greater attention to detail, more =
focused
energy, smoother transitions, handling crises more effectively,
etc.
Essential
Elements in
Building A Better Me
Building A Better Me
1.Making Good Habi=
ts and
acquiring New Skills, while at the same time
2.Breaking Bad Hab=
its and
setting aside skills that take us nowhere.
3.Finding Balance.=
Prerequisites
For Fruitful Progress In
Personal Holiness
Personal Holiness
•FIRST: We must have A Right Heart=
. What we do isn’t meaning=
ful
if we’re doing for the wrong person.
=
•SECOND:<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> We must be Willing To Pay =
The Price. Holiness doesn’t come easi=
ly, nor
is it without cost. It doesn’t happen by accident or automatically.Hebrews 12
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating yo=
u as
children. For what child i=
s not
disciplined by a parent? If=
you
are not disciplined (and
everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true children. More=
over,
we have all had human paren=
ts who
disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father =
of our
spirits and live! Our fa=
thers
disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good=
, that
we may share in his ho=
liness.
No discipline seems pleasant a=
t the
time, but
painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have =
been
trained by =
it.
•Theref=
ore,
strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.
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Must use the right Guide, of cou=
rse: The Bible
Ma=
king Good
Habits: We won't think abou=
t every
little thing we do each day…in fact, we can't (people who try are termed "OC"). This is why habits are important=
! In order to control diabetes, we=
need
to make a habit of testing glucose a=
nd
administering insulin regularly; in order to lose weight I must make a habit of exercise and diet awareness; in order =
to play
golf I need to make a good =
golf
swing a habit, not something I think
through each time…
Breaking Bad Habits: A clear corollary to making good=
habits
is the simultaneous breaking of habits which
serve to undermine progress toward our goal of perfecting our craft. Smoking and overeating are obvious obstructions to becoming a triathelet=
e. Other bad habits may not be so p=
lain to
us: Taking too long a stride contributes to skeletal fatigue=
and
thus hinders trekking/backpacking progress; too-frequent breathing slows swimmers in the crawl; certain speech habits
like saying "um" will keep you out
of broadcasting; picking your nose will usually not help a relationship w=
ith
the opposite sex…
This is partly what Jesus was talking =
about
when he told this parable in Matthew 12:43ff::
"When an evil spirit comes out of a ma=
n, it
goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I
left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it s=
even
other spirits more wicked than itself, and they
go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than t=
he
first. That is how it will be with t=
his
wicked generation.”
Finally, it should be noted that=
none of
this is without cost. Altho=
ugh the
price may not be monetary, progress toward perfection is not without
expense. We must be prepare=
d to
sacrifice some things along the way, to incur expenses and spend time and=
energy
that is precious to us, if we expect to progress. No progress toward perfection ha=
ppens
by accident.
Most importantly, all of this effort needs to flow from a right heart. We must do the right thing, but =
also
for the right reason. This =
is the
"who do we do it for" piece.&n=
bsp;
Our motivation cannot be selfish, or we will quickly give up or si=
mply
become superficial practitioners--"weekend warriors" or
"armchair quarterbacks".
We must reorient our minds and begin to do FOR GOD what we one wou=
ld
have done for ourselves. Th=
is is a
simple but profoundly difficult task.
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