More on Holiness

By David Hobbs, New Year's Day, 2015

Heb. 12:14--Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord [NKJV].

It’s amazing how blasé the church is about holiness, considering the importance the Bible puts upon it. I hear very few sermons preached on it, and very little emphasis seems to be placed on it. Jesus said almost the same thing in the Sermon on the Mt.:

Mt. 5:8--Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God  [KJV].

People just zero in on “by grace I’m saved through faith,” and that becomes all that matters—their ticket to heaven! Then why does the Bible bother giving us scriptures like this one in Hebrews, even telling us we need to pursue peace and holiness—strive after them—because they are a necessary part of our seeing God? Sadly, the church seems happy to stress the parts of God’s Word it likes, and ignore the rest!

I had an experience with the Lord once that showed me more about these verses. I was at my old church in its previous sanctuary praying in the middle of the night. The room has a vaulted ceiling, which goes up about 20 feet. As I was walking around praying, it was as if the room became a pool of clear water that I was walking through along the bottom.  He made me to understand that this was like a human life: it had a top, a bottom, and depths that might not be readily visible from above. This concept finds support in Proverbs in the Bible. Prov. 18:4 says “the words of a man’s mouth are deep waters [NIV],” and Prov. 20:5 says “Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out [NKJV].”

Holiness and purity are like clear water all the way to the bottom. But most people have murkiness somewhere down inside: doubts, fears, insecurities, unresolved issues, guilt, selfish desires, etc. All these cloud the water of their lives. Though on the surface the water is clear and they seem just fine, if you ever penetrate their depths by getting to know them in a deeper way, at some point you will encounter this dark murkiness. "Hm, Sister Suzie has issues," we tell ourselves.

Some people’s lives are more than murky; they can be turbulent with strong underlying currents that swirl around and bring up all kinds of mud and debris from the depths. Like the prophet says in Isa. 57:20-21 [KJV]:

But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.

Another thing I saw: The murkiness in the depths hides doors to the demonic underworld. These are the access points the enemy can use to come through and sabotage our lives and use us for his purposes. An unresolved hurt from the past, for instance, can provide a door to demonic anger to come forth against those we otherwise love. 

Our lives can look clear and peaceful, but the pressure from a trial can muddy our waters with impatience, frustration and anxiety and we lose our peace.

A little self-indulgence and laziness in King David’s life stirred up a hidden, muddy, lust problem that opened the door to the enemy and before it was over, David had committed adultery, treachery, lying, deceit and murder. No wonder he cries out in Psalm 139:23-24 [NIV]:

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

And in Psalm 19:12-13 he says:

But who can discern their own errors?  Forgive my hidden faults.

Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.

Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression.

“Search the waters of my life; bring to light any hidden places of murkiness and sin where the enemy can lurk and wait for the right moment of temptation. May I be clear through and through.”

Clear water is a perfect transmitter of light. And it’s the light of the Lord that He wants shining through us to the world. Any muddiness of sin blocks the flow of light. John Worldyman can’t see Jesus in us when we’re screaming at our kids or cutting him off in traffic because we’re late to our prayer meeting!

But what a glorious thing it was that night to contemplate a life clear all the way to the bottom with no hidden depths, no alligators hiding in the mud ready to rise up and grab the unsuspecting swimmer.  There was a great peace about it: a serenity and security.

The Bible says of Jesus in Heb. 7:26 that He was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens.” Part of Jesus’ holiness was that He was harmless, and that’s the way we should be too. No hidden shoals or whirlpools the unsuspecting can get sucked into—just clear, placid water from top to bottom. Then not only can we see God, but others can too, through us!