Holiness

      Some things in life are resistant to change.  We always remark about our senior population and how they don't like change to come into their lives.  I have a routine that has been around for the past 50 years and so any attempt to change it makes me feel uncomfortable.  I am retired, so to speak, but still get up at around 5:00 AM.  Now, my body begins to ache if I remain in bed any longer than 6 hours.  I like my coffee a certain way, I like my food cooked a certain way and the list goes on of how I like to do things and how I like things to be in my  environment.  There is however, one thing that should be changing from day to day and that is our personal holiness.  Leviticus 11:44 says, "For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."  Peter also reminds us of this same verse in his quote, in 1:16  "Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." 
     Holiness has a lot to do with our separation, but it is a two way street.  We should be separated from the things of the world and separated towards God.  This means that there are going to be certain things in my life that should  be changing, even though I am resistant to change.  I should be spending more time in my reading of God's Word and I should be spending more time in my private prayer life with Him.  It is when I endeavor to take a giant leap and choke on the amount that I tried to consume.  I can't go from 10 minutes a day to 3 hours a day.  I once heard of a devout believer who is an apologist who remarked how much time he spent in Bible reading and prayer.  It would take a giant leap for me to ever get close to that.  I should, however, be making some progress if only by minutes to be more holy.  We are not going to come to the end of our holiness in that we are going to be perfect, but we should be making some progress.  The word, "holy" is used around 611 times in the King James Bible.  That's a lot to say about being holy.  God has gone to great lengths to explain what holiness is and so we should be at least concerned with it in a greater way than we are.  Remember the basic definition of holiness and strive to be closer to God today than you were yesterday.  When six months passes, you may find that you are just a tad more holy now than you were before.  This is one change that should be taking place in your life.  Praise God today that He desires our fellowship with Him.