The Blessing of His Presence (5)

LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle?
Who may dwell in Your holy hill?
He who walks uprightly,
And works righteousness… Psalm 15.1

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 Corinthians 7.1

As He is holy
Christians are the beneficiaries of exceedingly great and precious promises, the sum of which consists in being the peopleof God, with access to the presenceof God, unto the powerand praiseof God in our everyday lives. God promises to bless us, which He does above all by bringing us into His presence, and teaching us to dwell there and to go forth from there into our daily lives. As we go, He promises to make us a blessing to the world, primarily by communicating Him and His Good News.

Thus we need the blessing of God’s presence, not just to overcome the daily challenges we may expect to encounter, but that we might be increasingly conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, and so demonstrate in every area of our lives the reality of Jesus, risen from the dead. The more we practice the presence of the Lord – with us where we are, with Him where He is – the more we will know His joyful and pleasurable presence in our everyday experience, and the more we should expect Him to make Himself known through us.

But demonstrating the goodness, justice, love, kindness, thoughtfulness, grace, and truth of Jesus Christ – His holiness – is not a given. We must work at bringing holiness to complete in the fear of God, which fear we experience most pointedly and consistently as we continue in the presence of the Lord. The promises of God free us from sin and mere self-interest, as we focus on what God wants for us and the world; and the presence of God nurtures in us such fear and enjoyment of Him, that we will increase in holiness and thus partake of Him more constantly.

Becoming holy
But how do we sustain the presence of the Lord unto holiness. Or, as the psalmist put it, how shall we abidein the Lord and dwell in His presence?

David says that we may expect to know the presence of the Lord the more we increase in that holiness which characterize those who dwell with Him. The Lord is holy; He is complete and perfect in every virtue, action, and intent, and He commands us to be perfect and become holy as well (Matt. 5.48). Obviously, we’re not going to achieve this objective in this life, as the law of sin continues to plague us. But, as Paul indicates, we should expect to make progress in holiness, in being like the Lord. And, as we do, we will find ourselves more at home in the presence of the Lord, and more present with Him always.

Bringing holiness to completion begins with knowing what holiness is – what it looks like, and how we should expect to see it in our lives. The more we practice the presence of Jesus, looking to Jesus and reflecting and meditating on His attributes, appearance in glory, works, and ways, the more we will see what holiness is, and what we are pressing on to become. In addition, by meditating on the holy and righteous and good Law of God – regularly reading through it, reflecting on its application to our lives, envisioning ourselves obeying each relevant detail – the more that Law will serve as a lamp unto our feet and a light for our path, leading us in the way of holiness that Jesus walked (Ps. 119.105; 1 Jn. 2.1-6).

Put off, put on
Two problems confront us as we seek to bring holiness to completion in our lives, and thus to refract the holiness of Christ into our Personal Mission Fields.

First, holiness does not come naturally to us. In fact, left to ourselves, we are not inclined to be holy, but to allow the law of sin to rule our lives (Rom. 7.14-23). If we don’t do something about this, we’ll only ever think sinfully, feel wrong affections, and set vain and self-serving priorities. Second, the holiness we are called to embrace can only come by diligent and determined effort. Our natural tendency to seek ease and the status quo thus works against us in both these challenges.

Here we must heed the prophet who sends us “to the Law and to the testimony” (Is. 8.20). By shining the light of God’s Law into our souls we can, first, see the wickedness and self-centeredness that remain there (Rom. 7.12), and, second, discern the path of Kingdom greatness which we should plan for and pursue (Matt. 5.17-19; Ps. 119.59, 60). The Law of God marks a path into the promises of God, because it is the path that outlines the course of His blessing, both in His presence and in the world.

Increasing in holiness thus involves putting offwhatever of our lives – thoughts, feelings, values, priorities, words, deeds – are self-serving and sinful, and putting on everything that reflects the holiness we discover in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 4.17-24).

Without holiness we will not see the Lord (Heb. 12.14). Unless we practice the presence of the Lord, we will not know what holiness is, and we will not have the vision, incentive, or power to bring holiness to completion in the fear of God.  Holiness is our blessing to the world, because holiness points away from the world to the holy God Who sends us with the blessings of His presence and love to the world.

For reflection
1.  What is holiness? How can we know when we are increasing in holiness?

2.  What are the greatest obstacles keeping us from bringing holiness to completion?

3.  Why is holiness the greatest blessing we bring to the world?

Next steps – Transformation: Where in your life is there need for greater holiness? What would that look like? What steps can you take to increase in holiness in these areas?

T. M. Moore

This is part 5 of a 5-part series, Living toward the Promises. You can download this week’s study as a free PDF, suitable for personal or group use, by clicking here. You can learn more about living toward the promises of God by ordering a copy of the book, I Will Be Your God, from our online store (click here).

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.