By Rhoda Collins

There is not enough teaching about holiness and righteousness. We need to pursue them, because the world is so filthy. So many things on the internet or on TV or in movies can make us unclean, so we need to ask God to forgive us and purify us. Grace doesn’t mean that we can take advantage of God to do what we want to do. Grace doesn’t mean that Christians are allowed to get worldly.

We are going to have to be determined to be holy in the world we live in today. Holiness means that we are separated unto God and to be separated from deliberate sin. Many people will not take a stand for righteousness because of fear of rejection from people so they just stay inactive. Psalm 1:1 says “Don’t stay inactive in the pathway of sinners.”

If we love what is righteousness and hate lawlessness, then God will anoint us above other people and use us for a noble use. We need to be out there in the world bearing fruit. Here’s some holiness scriptures that we should memorize and apply them to our lives.

^“You have loved righteousness [You have delighted in integrity, virtue, and uprightness in purpose, thought, and action] and You have hated lawlessness (injustice and iniquity). Therefore God, [even] Your God (Godhead), has anointed You with the oil of exultant joy and gladness above and beyond Your companions”.  Hebrews 1:9

“Judge and vindicate me, O God; plead and defend my cause against an ungodly nation. Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man”! Psalm 43

“An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, and he who is upright in the way [of the Lord] is an abomination to the wicked”. Proverbs 29:27

“O you who love the Lord, hate evil; He preserves the lives of His saints (the children of God), He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked”. Psalm 97:10

^“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter”! Isaiah5:20

Leaders need to confront deliberate sin with Christianity. “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God”. 1 Corinthians 6: 9-10 NKJV

Most Christians don’t even know what they are doing is wrong and a sin. When confronted with their sin, people will say things like, “everybody is doing it” or “my church doesn’t judge me” or “God loves everybody” or the best one perhaps, “I’m justified by grace”.

Leaders should be instructing deliberate sinners when they are practicing unholiness and unrighteousness, that God loves them, but what you are doing is wrong and a sin, which can lead to spiritual death. And that you are not going to carry the blessing of God on your life if you continue to live in a sinful lifestyle.

“Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord”. Hebrews 12:14

There is no excuse to live in sin.