Staying Clean

       If you say that a person is a Christian, you are saying that he or she is a changed person. Sometimes we sing the song “Just As I Am”. When one responds to God’s invitation and becomes a Christian, he may come just as he is, but he must also come with the understanding that he will never be the same afterward! Here is why:  He comes as one unclean and Jesus makes him clean.  He comes as a slave to sin and Jesus makes him free from sin.  He comes as a son of iniquity and Jesus makes him a son of God.  There is a word that is used to describe a changed person. It is the Greek word “hagios”, which is translated “holy”. It means “different”.  A holy person is not an odd person, but is a different person. His or her life has a quality about it that is different. This quality might seem strange or odd to the unbeliever, but it is not strange to other Christians. It is recognizable, admired and loved.  However, it is not easy to live a holy life in an unholy world. The anti-God atmosphere around us that the Bible calls the “world” is always pressing against us; always trying to force us to conform to its ways. Romans 12:2 says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”  We Christians must stay clean in a polluted world. Such is only possible by following our Lord Jesus, the Holy One.  John 16:33 says, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”  I Peter 1:15 says, “but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.” We are called to holiness; to separation from the world and its unholiness.   

--Greely Kirkpatrick