Pursuit of Holiness 3… reading day.

Morning!

Raises his cup of coffee

It is Wednesday April 23rd of 2025.  We have a cool, clear morning with a high of 76 forecast.  Looks like we’ll be partly cloudy for most of the day and clearing later.

We are continuing to consider holiness today as we reach the middle of the week.  Let’s start today looking at Matthew 22.  Jesus was talking with some Pharisees who were questioning Him.

Matthew 22: 37-40

“Jesus said unto him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

I know, I’m using the King James translation some today!  We are to love The Lord with all our hearts.  We are to love The Lord with all our souls.  We are to love The Lord with all our minds.  That means we are meant to set apart our hearts.  It means we are to set apart our souls.  It means we are to set apart our minds for The Lord.  We are to make them holy.  A living sacrifice to God.

Jesus is referencing a passage in Deuteronomy 6.  But there’s something we can consider here.

Holiness of mind.

Holiness of body.

Holiness of action.

These are the three key categories of holiness we as believers can consider.  And I think our next passage we go to illustrates this.

Deuteronomy 6: 1-12

“Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the LORD your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, that you may fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.  Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the LORD God of your fathers has promised you- a land flowing with milk and honey.  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.  And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.  So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyard and olive trees which you did not plant- when you have eaten and are full- then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.”

Moses was commanded by God to teach the Israelites that which God had taught him.  That teaching was with a purpose.  It was so what Moses taught the Israelites in their mind would make it’s way into their hearts so that they could observe, or in other words act upon, the commandments of God.  The list of holy actions that Moses was teaching encompasses all of life.  The Israelites, and by proxy us as believers in Jesus, are to teach the commandments of God we receive to our children.  Moses taught that when we sit in our houses we are to speak of God’s Word.  When we are out in public walking in the way, as Moses put it, or maybe just walking to the store, we are to speak of God’s Word.  The last thing we do at night?  God’s Word.  First thing in the morning?  God’s Word.  We are to surround and immerse ourselves in God’s Word, God’s Commandments and as Jesus taught us God’s Love as we go through our lives.

It occurred to me this morning that none of these holy actions would be possible without a holy mind and a holy mind is not possible without Jesus.  The transformation begins with the renewing of our mind for it is through a holy mind that our will becomes holy, set apart for God’s work.  And it is our will that allows us to make the decisions to do what we do.  All of our strength begins with the will in our minds and I might push things a little further to say that it is our imaginations specifically that we must consider for a moment.  With a holy imagination, whatever we dream will be set aside for God.

Moses begins his teaching by engaging the minds of the Israelites who then are to take to heart the Word of the LORD, for Moses was a prophet.  He was chosen, by God, faithful in all his house, the meekest of the meek and hard of speech, to be His voice on earth.  Moses begins by engaging the minds of his flock who then are to be doers of the work, not just hearers of the Word.

So.

How are we doing with teaching our children God’s Word?

How are we doing with surrounding ourselves with God’s Word?

What in our lives do we let in that keeps us from surrounding ourselves in God’s Word?

Now the next question might be difficult.

Do we think we should let those things go?

2 Timothy 2: 22-26

“Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.  But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.  And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”

Holiness of mind.

Holiness of body.

Holiness of action.

We set aside our youthful lusts, the things we wanted, the things we were doing when we were not believers, the sinful things, which then gives us time.  We can then use that time to look to God’s Word to teach us what His Will is.  This fills our minds with Jesus.  Which then allows us to pour forth from our mouths fresh water of the Word, untainted and spotted by the world.  We will think the Word.  We will speak the Word.  We will bind the Word around our necks and write it on the tablet of our hearts knowing that we are doing that which pleases God for it is written in His Word which He is writing on our hearts.

It starts with God drawing us to Him, but our wills are free to follow or not.

Hebrews 2: 1-4

“Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.  For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?”

I think this will get us started for today.

Let’s take a reading day and pick up tomorrow.