Simple Holiness

There's been quite a bit of talk on holiness here at Seattle Temple recently, so I though I'd blog a little on it.

Holiness can be a complicated issue. There are a lot of theologians out there with their different takes on the gift and how we receive it, and there's a lot of complicated terminology around holiness. The truth is, holiness is the simple truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He went to the cross, took our sins upon himself, and defeated the power of sin on the cross. Then He rose from the dead and now lives to God in eternal and completely abundant life. If we believe in faith that His victory was won for the sin in our lives, He will respond by removing our sinful nature. That is complete grace working in response to our faith. It's hard to believe, but that's why faith is required. We don't feel like He has taken away our sin because the enemy doesn't want us to feel that way. The enemy works hard to convince us of the lie that we are controlled by sin, but the truth is, if we believe in faith that Jesus can take away our sin, we can live a life of freedom from the enemy. He will still tempt us, but we have to understand that temptation is no longer because we are sinful, it's a temptation from the enemy that we have victory over. By the power of God, we don't have to sin. We are free to do what we want. And if we do sin, Christ is our advocate in Heaven to provide forgiveness and freedom. Just know that your sin was defeated on the cross and all that holiness is, is simply believing in faith that this is true.