Practising Holiness

If you haven’t noticed how Christians have been viewed by the world lately, then you have probably been living under a rock. In less than 30 years, we (and by that I mean the entire church body – those who follow Jesus as Saviour from all denominations) have gone from a force of good in the world to something that is mocked and shunned. One has to wonder, why? What happened? When did it become acceptable in society to mock God?

The changes were subtle, and they started in the education system with the banning of prayer and Bibles in schools. From there the movement to strike God (and particularly Jesus’ name) from any government-funded programs and institutions grew. It blossomed into banning the Ten Commandments in public places, saying Merry Christmas in stores and making sure that no public school Christmas pageant mentioned the baby Jesus (a name deemed offensive). In less than 30 years Jesus has gone from being a loving Saviour of the world to the figurehead of a church that is considered hateful, intolerant, homophobic, Islamophobic, “deplorable” right-wing nut-jobs.

And it’s all our fault!

We have forgotten how to live as Christ called us to live. We have taken “being in the world, but not of it” to a whole new level of craziness. And it has to stop. To be clear, not all Christians fall into this category of “crazy.” There are those who are still quietly working to display the goodness of Jesus Christ and seeking to draw others to Him. They are doing it with dignity, good works and love for their fellow man. They have learned what it means to practice holiness, and for the next little while, I am going to take a look at what that means for Christians today.

​How are we supposed to live in a world that openly mocks God? Are we supposed to protest against those who oppose us? Are we supposed to take up arms and be ready to defend ourselves? Should we be openly attacking homosexuals for their way of life by standing at gay pride parades with signs condemning them? Should we be standing outside abortion clinics with pictures of dead babies, while scared women are seeking help? Should we involve ourselves in politics at all? What does the Bible say about how we are to live and act in a world where sexual immorality is the norm and purity is not? I will look at all these issues and more in the weeks ahead. If you are tired of how the church is perceived by the world today and want to know how you can change that perception, then please join me for a study on Practising Holiness.