EVERY WORD OF GOD FOR DAILY LIVING BY: PASTOR PAUL RIKA:
INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR Holiness Revival Movement Worldwide
TITLE: HOLINESS IS MORAL PERFECTION
DATE: Sunday, January 17, 2021
TEXT: Psalm 24:3-4
KEY VERSE: Psalm 15:1-2 ‘LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.’
Perfection is divided into two. There is moral perfection and there is mental perfection. Moral perfection deals with the heart. It is a heart condition of absolute morality, godliness, righteousness and not being prone to evil. A holy man is clean and pure in motive. He is innocent to evil and sincere in his works. According to today’s devotional text, a holy man has a pure heart, hence the filth of the heart has been taken away. In a spiritual way, we say he is circumcised. A castrated male cannot perform on a woman because the normal feelings and powers that move a man towards a woman is not in him. He has been made a eunuch, so you cannot accuse him of sleeping with a woman. He does not possess that power no matter how closely he comes to a woman; not even when he lies with the woman on the same bed or even sees her nakedness. Holiness is like that – moral perfection; state of innocence to evil; sincerity in heart; pure in motive and whatever he does. God can take you to this high point of Christian life.
It is unfortunate that not all in the gospel of Christ have attained this spiritual state, and the person who has not attained it will never agree that anybody can come to that state. You doubting Thomases, be informed that people have passed your stage and are in the state of holiness already. The power of the gospel can work this out for any man on earth. Today’s key verse says, “Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?” The answer comes: “He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.” For the righteous, evil motives have been cleansed from him: “He speaketh the truth from his heart.” He is not somebody that pretends and speaks good things from his mouth but hides evil intention in his heart. He is not a double-dealer. You don’t see him playing games. He is somebody like Hezekiah who in sincerity opened his treasures to representatives of the king of Babylon. Although he was wrong in doing that because he later lost all to the evil king, he did it in sincerity.
Thought for the day: A holy man does not live a double life.
Song for the day: Holiness, holiness is what I long for. Holiness is what I need…..
Bible reading for the day: Genesis 41; Matthew 13:1-32