Holiness
Back in 2003 when I joined the Navy I needed to go through basic training. This training got me in ready condition and discipline for the military service ahead of me. The basic training was training that conditioned me for further military training in job fields I pursued. I remember that the Navy always pushed me along with other shipmates to pursue more knowledge in our job. Working on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier required training and qualification. Without this basic training I would not be able to be military fit for any job that the Navy offered me. Taking a civilian and placing him directly on the flight deck will most likely get him killed.
The Kingdom of Heaven is much like this kind of pursuit or training. One of the greatest evidences that you are a generated Christian is your growth in Holiness. As Dr. Steve Lawson writes, “Sanctification is never an elective course that a believer may or may not take.” In other words it seems that if your life does not change into the conformity of Christ you may not be a Christian. I find it very difficult to believe that God will allow His child to constantly live without any growth in holiness.
Hebrews 12:14 teaches us that we need to strive “for the holiness without no one will see the Lord.” This pursuit of holiness is the narrow path that Christ talks about in Matt. 7:13-14. If one does not get a grasp of sanctification one just may miss out period.
If an athlete fails to keep up with the basic training requirements, the athlete will quickly not be able to participate at all and definitely not win the crown. In the same way, the believer who fails to sanctify his heart and submit himself to Christ may indeed find himself in a circumstance he may not like.
Holiness is not a one-time deal, but a lifelong pursuit. It is a “lifelong study, for no one graduates the school of Christ this side of heaven,” writes Lawson. Without this pursuing and training you may not see the Lord.
A Christian must discipline himself for daily growth in holiness. This does not mean that everyday will be a gradual climbing up the scale. But when one looks back in life one must see a steady and gradual growth in the pursuit of holiness.
