If you want to truly reflect the love of God, then it means going on a search-and-destroy mission to uproot sin in your heart – small and great sins.
I love this quote by A.W. Tozer: “Holiness is Godlikeness.”
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and back in the 70s, I knew two Christian college students who made it a four-year goal to intentionally reflect Christ to everyone they could on campus – including professors. They reached out to incoming freshmen, they volunteered at the community food bank, led a Bible study in the girls’ dorm. They faithfully attended chapel and encouraged others on campus to do the same. These girls modeled a Christlikeness that won them many admirers. Kindness, generosity, considerate, and caring? Those two took their faith seriously. At least, on the surface. Because they had an interesting arrangement. Knowing the warnings that Scripture gives about gossip, they promised each other to never tittle-tattle except with each other. They didn’t have loose tongues with anyone else because they knew it would be a bad witness [and they were right]. But when these two girls got behind closed doors, did they give each other an earful!
My college buddies thought they could control sin and still be like Christ. They minimized their gossip and tried to housebreak it in an attempt to make it look respectable. They tried to domesticate their sin and, in so doing, assumed they had tamed it and made it their own. They could control it. Or so they thought. But now, many years later, those two aren’t friends anymore. I suppose Proverbs 16:28 caught up with them: “... gossip separates close friends.” But sin does much more than separate friends. It separates us from God. My girlfriends wanted so much to be like Christ in all his compassion and love. But they were only skating the surface with their deeds and devotion. To be like Christ first and foremost, is to hate sin. We don't like hearing that. It goes against everything in our human nature. We'd much rather emulate the Jesus who looked out for the underdog and welcomed outsiders into his circle. We prefer to model Jesus in the way he ministered to the poor and the outcast, showing what kind and compassionate deeds should look like. Touching the leper. Blessing the children. Healing the sick. Caring for the widow. I mean, these are the characteristics of Christ that really resonate with us. We identify. We want to be like that. In fact, it’s kind of cool.
But fundamentally, Jesus did not come to earth to be cool. He came to earth to square off against sin. His lifelong goal was to conquer it on the cross, as well as to confront it in the attitudes and actions of others. So, if we want to be like Christ – like God – then it means cultivating a disdain for sin: in the world, in our neighborhoods, but mainly, in our own hearts. Tozer was right – holiness isGodlikeness. And Godlikeness is holiness. If we want to truly reflect the love of God, then it means going on a search-and-destroy mission to uproot sin in our hearts – small and great sins.
Honestly, you know what? These truly are hope-filled words, wouldn’t you agree? I mean, they’re good words. So, learn a lesson from my two college friends. Think you can tame sin and still be like our Savior? Well, you better think again. Because sin will rip your soul to shreds and separate you from your friends and from your God. So aim higher than your transgressions – always aim to be holy, for the pure in heart will see God. Those are great words from the word of God and from our trusted friend, A.W. Tozer.
© Joni and Friends