BY JACK WARD
Ludwig Nommensen traveled to begin mission work with a tribe in Southeast Asia. The village chief welcomed Ludwig and said, “You have two years to learn our customs and convince us you have a message worth hearing.”
After two years, the tribal leader asked the missionary how Christianity differed from the tribe’s moral rules and traditions.
“We already know what is right,” the chief explained. “We, too, have laws that say we must not steal or take our neighbor’s wives or tell lies.”
The missionary replied, “That’s true. But my God supplies the power needed to keep those laws.”
This startled the chief. “Can you really teach my people to live better?”
“No, I can’t,” responded Ludwig. “But if they receive Jesus Christ, God will give them the strength to do what is right.”
The chief invited him to stay another six months, during which Ludwig preached the gospel and taught villagers how the Holy Spirit works in the lives of Christians.
“You can stay as long as you want,” the chief finally announced. “Your religion is better than ours, for your God walks with men and gives them strength to do the things He requires.”
This is called living a holy life.
God wants us to live holy lives. He does not want to make us happy; He wants to make us Holy. And in holy living we can live happy, contented, peaceful and purposeful lives.
What does it mean to live holy? 1 Peter 1:16 says, “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”
Holy refers to being set apart or separate. We are to live so as to be dedicated totally to God and separated totally from the sin of this world.
For humans, being Holy does not mean being perfect. Of course, God is perfect and holy, but we, as humans, can only pursue holiness. We chase after it. It is our goal. We should be totally dedicated to our Lord Jesus Christ and separate from sin. That is, we do sin but we do not like it. We are not trapped by sin; we are not held captive by sin. When we sin we agree with God about it. We repent and flee from sin.
Holiness means to live our lives with two goals:
• Serve God first and foremost. He owns us. He bought us by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• Love God first and foremost. We seek to please those we love. If we love our Lord, we will seek to serve Him and to please Him.
If you want to be truly happy, be holy.
Listen to Pastor Jack’s sermons every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. on 98.9 WSIP FM. Check out the Tomahawk Missionary Baptist Church Facebook page and our website at tomahawkmbc.com.