A Call unto Holiness

   The call of God is the manifestation in time of His purpose in eternity: "Those he predestined, he also called" (Romans 8:30). This we know that Believers are the "called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28). But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." (1 Peter 1:15-16). In His call He reveals to us what His thoughts and His will are concerning us and what the life is to which He is perpetually inviting us to.

   He makes clear to us through His Living Word what the hope of our calling is, and as we spiritually apprehend and enter into this, our life on earth will be the reflection of His purpose for us in eternity.

   

   The Holy Word--the Bible uses more than one word to indicate the object or aim of our calling, but none more frequently than what the Apostle Peter speaks of in one of our text above: God has called us to be holy as He is holy. Apostle Paul addresses believers twice as "called to be saints (that is holy)" (Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2). "For God did not call us, " he says, "to be impure, unholy, unclean, but to live a holy, saintly, sinless, spotless, guiltless, heavenly bound life" (1 Thessalonians 4:7). ---Emphasis added. As believers in Christ, if the only thing we are still living for immediately after our conversion is very far from this very life of holiness that the Lord God Himself has called us to; then, we are yet to experience the true power of the Cross and God Himself. Some years ago, when I got converted this is what I experience---that power of true Holiness in God through Christ. It was this same power that drives me on my knees to pray till the Lord God has to purify me--I mean, the real ME. Till data am still experiencing this power, because daily I give myself to the Word. Believers, know this; that the more deeper we go into God's Word the more He reveals Himself to us personally and to this effect the more the the things of the world and its lust will gradually fade away.

   Apostle Pual, when he writes, "The God of Peace, sanctify you through and through," he adds, "The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). So, it is not what you struggle to do by yourself not even trying or thinking to live out in your canal and powerless mind. No! He says, He will do it. What He expect you to do now is to yield your very self to Him. 

   

   The calling itself is spoken of as "a holy calling." The eternal purpose, of which the calling is the outcome, is also continually connected with holiness as its aim. "He chose us in Him ... to be holy and blameless in his sight" (Ephesians 1:4). "From the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit" (2 Thessalonians 2:13). "Chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit" (1 Peter 1:2). The call is the unveiling of the purpose that the Father from eternity had set His heart upon: that we should be holy.

   Without doubt, to know what God has called us to is of infinite importance. To misunderstand it is where the falling away begins from. You may have heard that God calls you to salvation or to happiness, to receive pardon or to obtain heaven. But have you ever noticed that all these were subordinate to His main purpose? It is to "salvation through sanctification"; to holiness first and foremost as the element in which salvation and heaven are to be found. Like my daddy in the Lord, Pastor W. F. Kumuyi will say;  "give me holiness or nothing else." That's while you see his ministry is mainly on the doctrine of God's holiness and that is the true foundation every true believer who aspire to know God intimately needs to setup for a better spiritual stand with God.

The Experience or Lack of Holiness

   

   It pains my heart to see that so many people who profess to be Christians are yet to know the main purpose of which they're redeemed from sin. The complaints of many Christians as to a lack of joy and strength, of failure and lack of spiritual growth, are due to the fact that they have not given holiness the place that God gives it. No wonder Apostle Paul, when he spoke to the Ephesians about being "chosen to be holy," prayed for the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God to be given to each believer that he might know the hope to which he has been called (Ephesians 1:17-18). Let all of us who now see to what we are called pray this prayer and ask God to show us that just as He who called us is holy, so we are to be also. Our calling, before and above everything else, is to holiness. Let us ask Him to show us what holiness is: first His, and then ours; to show us how He has set His heart upon it as the one thing He wants to see in us: His own image and likeness. Oh, that God by His Spirit would teach all of us what this calling means! It is easy to conceive what an influence it would have.

Called unto Holiness

   

   "Just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do" (1 Peter 1:15). This call of God shows us the true motive behind His command: "Be holy, because I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16). Let's look at this holy statement very closely; we will see that it is as if God said, "Holiness is my glory: without it you cannot see me or even enjoy me; there is nothing higher to be had. So, I invite you to share my likeness." Does this attract you and move you deeply--the hope of being partakers of His holiness? There is nothing better He could offer you. Shouldn't we cry to God to show us the glory of His holiness, that our souls may be made willing to give everything to respond to this wonderful call?

   His call also shows the nature of true holiness. To be holy is to be Godlike, to have a disposition, a will, a character like God. The thought almost looks like blasphemy, until we listen again: "He chose us in him ... to be holy" (Ephesians 1:4). In Christ the holiness of God appeared in human life, in His own life here on earth. We have the holiness of the Invisible One translated into the forms of human life and Conduct. To be Christlike is to be Godlike; to be Christlike is to be holy as God is holy. Does this very expression seem to be real in your Christian walk with God Oh, thou Believer?

   The call equally reveals the power of holiness. "There is none holy but the Lord"; there is no holiness but what He has, or rather what He is and shares. The quality is not something we do or attain by our own power: it is the communication of the divine life, the inbreathing of the divine nature, the power of the divine presence resting on us. And our power to become holy is to be found in the call of God: the Holy One calls us to himself that He may make us holy by possessing himself. He not only says, " I am holy," but "I am the Lord, who makes you holy" (Leviticus 22:32). Because the call comes from the God of infinite power and love, we may have confidence that we can be holy.

The Call

   The call no less reveals the standard of holiness. There is not one standard for God and another for man. The nature of light is the same whether we see it in the sun or in a candle; the nature of holiness remains unchanged whether it dwells in God or in man. The Lord Jesus could say nothing less than "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). When God calls us to holiness, He calls us to Himself and His own life. The more carefully we listen to His voice and let the fact sink into our hearts, the more will all human standard fall away and only His words remain.

  The call shows us the path of holiness. The calling of God is one of efficacy, an effectual calling. Listen to Him and with divine power the call will work what it offers. He calls the things that are not as though they were. His call gives life to the dead and holiness to those whom He has made alive. He calls us to listen as He speaks of His holiness, and of ours like His. He calls us to Himself, to study, to fear, to love, to claim His holiness. He calls us to Christ in whom divine holiness became human holiness, to see and admire, to desire and accept what is all for us. He calls us to the indwelling and the teaching of the Spirit of holiness, to yield ourselves that He may bring home to us and breathe within us what is ours in Christ. Believer, listen to God calling you to holiness; come and learn what His holiness is, what yours is, and what it should be.

The Prayer you should Pray now

...draw near to God even has He is willing to do so to you now. "Be holy, as I am holy." Take a step further friend you will hear a voice from Calvary: saying; "Be holy, for I am holy."

Dear Child of God, have you ever heard this call from God? Shouldn't we confess that happiness has been to us more than holiness, and salvation more than sanctification? But it is not too late to redeem the error. Listen to the voice that calls, draw close, and find out what holiness is, or better, find out and know Him who is the Holy One. If the first approach to Him fills us with shame and confusion, makes us fear and hold back, let us still listen to the voice that tells us to be holy, as He is holy. "The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:24). All our fears and questions will be met by this One who has revealed His holiness with one purpose in view: that we might share it with Him. As we yield ourselves in the deep quietness of our soul to listen to the voice that calls us, it will awaken within us a new desire, a new passion, a new hunger and strong faith to be holy.

...to you who is reading this now: if truly you're in pursuit of holiness, you must begin with God Himself. You must go to Him who calls you. It is only in the personal revelation of God to you as He speaks, "I am holy," that the command "Be holy" can have life, power and strength in you. 

...The major prayer I pray everyday is not going to God and begin to ask for money, blessings, fruitfulness, enjoyments, this or that. No! My prayer daily is Oh, Lord give me a heart that seeks after you, that seeks to please you every seconds of my life in holiness and sincere worship in truth. Fellow believer, what's your heart cry like?

...the good Lord God of Host will makes us holy even as we all come to Him in true sincerity and humility. Amen!

God bless you.

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