Wednesday, January 21, 2015

For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy.

"Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity..." Habakuk 1:13a

This past week I was blessed with a verse a brother shared in a recent Bible study on James. The verse  in Habakuk was mentioned in conjunction with the thought that God does not tempt us to do evil. 

There are lots of verses in the Bible that show God's attributes... His holiness, His righteousness, His longsuffering, His mercy, ... and the fact that there is no wickedness in Him. 

But the more I learn about God's character, the more I find myself in awe of God's gift of salvation. 

Such love... that God would provide His Son , the Lord Jesus Christ, to take my place on the cross.

Did you ever wonder why God had to give His Son to die? Why was a lamb without blemish required for the cleansing of sin?

 Because God cannot look upon iniquity! His eyes too pure to behold evil...

The sinner needed a SAVIOUR. 
The sinner needed a cleansing of all form of iniquity.
The sinner needed to be clean in order to stand before a HOLY and RIGHTEOUS God.  

And so, the Lord Jesus fulfilled the Father's requirement... that blood be shed for us... so we would have the cleansing and forgiveness of sins. 

Isn't it marvelous!

He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied
by His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; 
for He shall bear their iniquities. "
Isaiah 53:11

Yes, God's eyes... too pure. 

I was so blessed with the verse! How wonderful to be given another bit of information to help us in our walk before a HOLY God...

 " But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation." 
1 Peter 1:15

O, Lord God, thank you for being Holy and Righteous... and Merciful. Help us to put away and make no provision for the flesh.

But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. " 
Romans 13:14

And so this past week, I made it a point to memorize Romans 13:14 and Habakuk 1:13 as a reminder, to myself, to put away all form of iniquity in my life... and desire His face to shine on me.

For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers: 
But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. " 
1Peter 3:12

It's easy to compromise our Christian walk... saying,

Oh, God will forgive. God will have mercy. 

Yes, He does forgive. Yes, He does have mercy. But we are to walk in obedience and not be hearers only... but doers. How often I fail.... to do.

That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." 
Colossians 1:10

May you indeed be blessed by our Father's holiness... may it give you strength to obey and live victoriously through Christ Jesus... the author and finisher of our faith(Hebrews 12:2).

~Ellie

1 comment: