a similar topic came up in our church today and its a hard pill to swallow but make so much sense that I started researching others take on it,,,


here is a brief example of what I found

'this idea that holiness is our pursuit, and not happiness, brings me full circle to my first point. The word joy in the bible is the idea that we are not only growing closer to Jesus every day, but we are being made more and more like Him (holiness) everyday. Happiness is situational while joy is eternally SOLID! Joy is satisfaction in our savior! I’ll leave you with John Piper’s most famous quote”

“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him”

It’s about the pursuit of holiness, which is the pursuit of God, which is worship'

from http://lakeshorecitychurch.com/2010/09/the-pursuit-of-happiness/


In other words, following our 'hearts' is not necessarily a holy thing to do because our HEART leads us to very momentary and temporary pleasures of the flesh which can lead us in the exact opposite direction of God



The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it? {Jeremiah 17:9}

That is a great reminder.

As a very excellent priest I know once put it,

"holy people go to heaven, not happy or good people"

That being said if your heart is clean and you are seeking God following it isnt such a bad idea.

Neh. 8:10 "The joy of the LORD is your strength."

That is a fact !!!

Awesome post.

AMEN upon AMEN!!!

If our conscience is God's law instilled in man's hearts, how can following it be deceitful and desparately wicked?

I think the problem is the distinction between lust, desire, ego and greed and one's actual "heart".

Holiness is definitely a good thing, but holiness is not something we can attain to. When we became born again, we were instantly made holy, re-created holy, not through any of our own efforts. The new covenant tells us this truth over and over again.

Failing to recognize this causes us to embark on a performance-based endeavor to achieve a standing that we never, ever, will accomplish on our own strength. It's one of the ultimate forms of bondage. It's exactly what Jesus rebuked the religious people of His day for doing, and continues to rebuke that type of behavior even today. That's exactly why He said, "Clean first the inside of the cup, then the outside will be made clean also".

We are three-part beings; spirit, soul, and body. When we got born again, our spirit, the core of who we really are, was made brand new. This is what 2:Cor 5:17 speaks about when it says, "If any man be in Christ he is a new creation." Your spirit was made perfect. Ephesians 4:24 says this, "And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."

You can't work your way to holiness, when you received Christ, your spirit was created that way. And that's exactly how God sees you right now. God is Spirit (John 4:24), and when He looks upon you, what he sees is that brand new, created in righteousness and true holiness spirit part of you. He looks at you with Christ-tinted lenses if you will.

Hebrews 10:10&14 say it like this:

"By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.... For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. "

You were sanctified by the one offering of Christ and perfected forever. That is speaking of your spirit.

1 Cor. 6:17 says, "He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit". We are every bit as holy as Jesus.

1 John 4:17 says, "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world."

As He is, speaking of Jesus, so are we, in THIS world.

The problem lies in the fact that the majority of most Christians are experiencing a very serious identity crisis. They have no clue what was really accomplished on the cross and they have very limited understanding of who they are in Christ.

As Prov 23:7 says, "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he" If you go around thinking that you are unholy, then unholy you will be. You are more focused on the carnal realm than the spiritual. And Romans 8:6 says, "To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace."

Paradoxically, if you know that you know that you know that the real you, the spirit part of you, was CREATED in righteousness and true holiness, then holy you will be. You have cleansed the inside of the cup, therefore the outside will automatically become clean.

Wow, I could talk about this for days, but I am seriously late for school. Have a great day brethren!

Michael

Michael, that was very nice. Blessings