{"id":90907,"date":"2023-07-03T19:28:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-03T23:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/practical-holiness\/"},"modified":"2024-01-20T23:50:57","modified_gmt":"2024-01-21T04:50:57","slug":"practical-holiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/practical-holiness\/","title":{"rendered":"Practical Holiness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Romans 1:21<\/strong>: \u201c<strong>Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as\nGod, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their\nfoolish heart was darkened.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We live in the cultural personification of <strong>Romans 1:21<\/strong> with the manifestation of vain\nimaginations resulting in <strong>Romans 1:22<\/strong>: \u201c<strong>Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.<\/strong>\u201d&nbsp; What is the remedy?&nbsp; God has a two-tiered approach: spiritual\nunderstanding coupled with personal obedience.&nbsp;\nSpiritually, just as familiar to Paul as to ourselves, a state of untruth\npervades our culture resulting in wrong assessments, decisions and outcomes\nevidenced by legal\/governmental\/personal duplicity; bold factual misrepresentation;\nand worst, physical, emotional, psychological and ultimately spiritual harm\neven to the culture\u2019s most vulnerable.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This being our situation,\nhow is it possible to walk in the light of God\u2019s glory and grace in the midst\nof such virulent cultural unbelief?&nbsp; God\ndoesn\u2019t require the impossible, only obedience based upon the guidance and\nconviction from His Word.&nbsp; We must admit\nthat the Lord does make demands on us as His children and servants: He requires\nus to set our minds on heavenly things (<strong>Colossians\n3:1-2<\/strong>), to seek first His kingdom and righteousness (<strong>Matthew 6:33<\/strong>) as well as to live out our lives as\na devoted husband or wife, father or mother (<strong>Colossians\n3:18-20<\/strong>; <strong>Ephesians 5:22-33<\/strong>).&nbsp; He also says to have contact with the ungodly\npeople around us (<strong>Mark 16:15<\/strong>), living in a\nworld manifesting vain imaginations.&nbsp; How\ndoes one meet this expectation?&nbsp; Four\ncategories with points in a quest for practical holiness in your life:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1.<\/strong>\nLive a Holy life (<strong>2 Peter 3:10-12<\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Live a life of faith in God and the Lord Jesus\nChrist (<strong>John 14:1<\/strong>; <strong>2 Corinthians 5:7<\/strong>; <strong>Romans\n1:17<\/strong>).&nbsp; <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Be filled with the Spirit of God and produce the\nfruit of the Spirit (<strong>Ephesians 3:16<\/strong>; <strong>5:18<\/strong>); The Spirit produces His fruit in our lives\nthat will make our character far different from the evil nature of unbelievers\n(contrast <strong>Galatians 5:19-21<\/strong> with <strong>vv. 22-24<\/strong>).&nbsp;\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Read the Word of God regularly and know it\nthoroughly \u2013 be fortified in your spirit (<strong>Matthew\n4:4<\/strong>; <strong>John 12:48<\/strong>; <strong>Acts 17:11<\/strong>; <strong>2 Timothy\n3:15-17<\/strong>).&nbsp; <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Obey God as He reveals His will through His Word\n\u2013 seek God\u2019s strength and wisdom (<strong>John 14:15<\/strong>,\n<strong>21-24<\/strong>; <strong>1 John\n2:3-6<\/strong>, <strong>17<\/strong>; <strong>3:22<\/strong>, <strong>24<\/strong>; <strong>5:2-3<\/strong>).&nbsp; <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Surrender your will, deny yourself, and lay down\nyour life to follow Jesus (<strong>Mark 8:34-38<\/strong>; <strong>John 12:25-26<\/strong>; <strong>2\nCorinthians 5:14-15<\/strong>).&nbsp; <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Resist Satan and flee from his temptations (<strong>1 Corinthians 10:13<\/strong>; <strong>James\n4:7<\/strong>; <strong>1 Peter 5:8-9<\/strong>; <strong>1 John 5:19<\/strong>).&nbsp;\nKeep innocent in your spirit and do not partake of the evil around you (<strong>Romans 16:19<\/strong>, <strong>1\nCorinthians 14:20<\/strong>); be uncontaminated by the perverse and perverted\nworld around us (cf. <strong>Acts 2:40<\/strong>; <strong>Matthew 17:17<\/strong>).&nbsp;\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Remember that you are a soldier of Christ in a\ndeadly-serious spiritual war that you must win! (<strong>Ephesians\n6:10-18<\/strong>). <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>2.\nEstablish a healthy home (<strong>Deuteronomy 6:5-7<\/strong>)\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Avoid evil companions that would drag you down\nspiritually (<strong>1 Corinthians 15:33<\/strong>; <strong>2 Corinthians 6:14-17<\/strong>; <strong>Proverbs\n13:20<\/strong>; <strong>22:24-25<\/strong>).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Be separate from the wicked ways of the\nworld.&nbsp; The Christian who aspires to\nholiness must distance himself from all sin in whatever form it manifests\nitself. God made certain requirements \u201c<strong>to make a\ndistinction between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the\nclean<\/strong>\u201d (<strong>Leviticus 10:10<\/strong>; <strong>11:47<\/strong>).&nbsp; The\nconviction is that God indeed wants us to make distinctions between the evil\nways of the world and the righteous ways of God.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cultivate relationships with good and faithful\nbrothers and sisters in the Lord (<strong>Romans 1:8-12<\/strong>;\n<strong>12:10<\/strong>; <strong>2\nTimothy 2:22<\/strong>; <strong>Hebrews 3:13<\/strong>; <strong>10:24-25<\/strong>; <strong>Psalm 119:63<\/strong>).&nbsp; <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Always place God and His will above and beyond\nevery other relationship, including family and friends (<strong>Matthew 12:46-50<\/strong>; <strong>10:34-38<\/strong>;\n<strong>Luke 14:26-27<\/strong>).&nbsp; <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Arrange your living situation and physical\nsurroundings to make them the most conducive to live a devoted life of service\nto the Lord and to avoid evil influences (<strong>1\nCorinthians 10:13, 31<\/strong>; <strong>1 Thessalonians\n5:22<\/strong>).&nbsp; <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Continually set your mind and heart on heavenly,\neternal things rather than earthly, temporal things (<strong>Matthew 6:33<\/strong>; <strong>Colossians 3:1-4<\/strong>;\n<strong>Philippians 3:19-21<\/strong>; <strong>4:8<\/strong>). <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Do not be bound together with unbelievers.&nbsp; The power of influence is great!&nbsp; Paul would emphasize the importance of being\nseparated from close and intimate relationships in the world (<strong>2 Corinthians 6:14-15<\/strong>).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You may need to physically distance yourself\nfrom some friends and family members who are in sin (<strong>Psalm 101:7<\/strong>); if not, there are consequences (<strong>Proverbs 14:7<\/strong>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>3. Take a\nstrong stance (<strong>2 Timothy 1:12<\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Never allow another person to pressure you to\ndisobey God and sin.&nbsp; The believer must\nbe willing to \u201c<strong>refuse evil and choose good<\/strong>\u201d\n(<strong>Isaiah 7:15<\/strong>).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Replace the evil around you with transformation\nfrom God (<strong>Romans 12:2<\/strong>).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Be willing to lose your job if it requires you\nto sin in some way or be around overpowering worldly influences (<strong>Philippians 3:7-10<\/strong>; <strong>Luke\n9:9<\/strong>; <strong>James 4:4<\/strong>).&nbsp; <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Be prepared to lose money and material things to\nfollow the Lord fully (<strong>Matthew 4:18-22<\/strong>; <strong>Mark 10:21-27<\/strong>, <strong>28-30<\/strong>).&nbsp; <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Never forget that the world\u2014the lust of the\nflesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life\u2014is your bitter enemy and you\nmust choose to love God rather than the world (<strong>1\nJohn 2:15-17<\/strong>; <strong>James 4:4<\/strong>; <strong>Romans 12:1-2<\/strong>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>4.\nMaintain a tender heart (<strong>Jude 22-23<\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Make a distinction between those who sincerely\n&#8220;doubt,&#8221; as opposed to those who are rebellious and arrogant: the\n&#8220;scoffers&#8221; who are not really seeking truth (<strong>Jude 1:10<\/strong>).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Strong believers should deal with doubters\npatiently and with love (<strong>Ephesians 4:2<\/strong>).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Answer concerns of sincere seekers (<strong>1 Peter 3:15\u201316<\/strong>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Romans 1:21: \u201cBecause that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.\u201d We live in the cultural personification of Romans 1:21 with the manifestation of vain imaginations resulting in Romans 1:22: \u201cProfessing themselves to be wise, they became [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[526,534],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Practical Holiness - Grace Evangelical Free Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Navigate the cultural manifestation of Romans 1:21 with insights into vain imaginations and the resulting call to spiritual understanding and personal obedience.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Practical Holiness - Grace Evangelical Free Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Navigate the cultural manifestation of Romans 1:21 with insights into vain imaginations and the resulting call to spiritual understanding and personal obedience.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/practical-holiness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Grace Evangelical Free Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-03T23:28:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-21T04:50:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tony Raker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tony Raker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/practical-holiness\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/practical-holiness\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tony Raker\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#\/schema\/person\/6785bcea471ae92fb3660d811c5c74ef\"},\"headline\":\"Practical Holiness\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-03T23:28:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-21T04:50:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/practical-holiness\/\"},\"wordCount\":875,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Issues &amp; 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