July 20, 2022
Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:13-16
Do I have faith that the Spirit of the Lord can come into me and make me holy? Faith blossoms when it is immediately followed by faithfulness, and not procrastination! A desire to be holy—or “set apart”—is awakened when I realize that I am not holy and that my unholiness, by default, spreads to others as a negative influence and example. If my desire to be holy is accompanied by a willingness to submit to God and allow Him to work in me, then I will begin to understand that it is for the purpose of showing Him to others, that they might be saved. The terrible emergency that sin ushered into the world also highlights God’s incredible love for us in that He is continually at work to fully restore His image in us, even holiness. The fact that He works in us and through us is a display of His grace and the urgency of His plan.
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” John 7:38
Those rivers of living water are continual refreshments that we are to pour into the lives of others. This is the opposite of receiving blessings and keeping them for ourselves. It is a challenge to our limited human logic to grasp “divine economy” but the blessings of God in our lives are opportunities not only to exercise faithfulness, but to experience fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11) as a consequence of putting others ahead of our personal happiness. This is what it means to rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.