The path of holiness can be daunting but God empathizes and encourages us with powerful motivations. Here are five motivations for seeking holiness.
The first and biggest reason is that our Christian life should be powered by love for God. If we think of purification as something we do only because God asks us to then our motives are out of order. God wants us to want him because he is our good Father who gives us true life and everything else pales in comparison. Paul told the Corinthians that “I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:2, ESV). This is why we cooperate with his purifying fires: we are yearning for our wedding day.
The second reason is similar to the first. Since we are destined to live as perfected new Adams in an eternal community of love with God and his followers, why would we embrace anything that doesn’t fit with our future identity? We long for our full Christformation so we pursue Christlike purity now. 1 John 3:2-3 states: “When Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure” (NIV). Since this new day is coming we stay focused on the path of purification because every other path leads us away from our future self.
The third reason we fight the good fight of holiness is because of who we are now and the blessings of participating in God’s nature. We desire to be who God meant us to be now because every other “self” is vastly inferior. This is why the Apostle explains: “We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Rom. 6:1, NIV). In other words, our new Adam self has no heart for sin. Impurities pollute the good of our new self which is designed in the image of the Lord. So obviously we sacrifice the old corrupt self so that we can fully embrace our new self and communion with God.
Since this new day is coming we stay focused on the path of purification because every other path leads us away from our future self.
The fourth reason we submit to God’s purification is that God’s love compels us to love others in a Christlike way. We can either influence the people around us as immature Christians or as mature Christians. The people around us need to see and experience God’s goodness through us. 1 Peter 2:12 instructs us to “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation” (ESV). Our holiness impacts the body of Christ as well, such as our honesty (remember God’s judgment of Ananias and Saphira), language, freedom from addictions, care of our bodies and discriminating viewing. These can all have a substantial impact.
The fifth reason for holiness is that even though God will make all believers completely pure and good after Jesus returns, he will also give individualized rewards to believers based on their lives. 2 Corinthians 5:10 promises that “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (NIV). This is written to Christians and the Apostle Paul says that this judgment is one of the reasons that he wants to please God (5:9). If we avoid holiness we will miss out on rewards. If we pursue holiness then we will actually receive a reward from the almighty God. And if God is the giver of the reward then won’t it be more wonderful than we can even imagine now!
These five motivations for holiness are more than enough to keep us moving closer and closer to the purity of Christ.
