When I was a teenager, I was in a church with a pastor who had a sense of humor. He once said, “I want everybody here to lift a shout if you’re happy to be in God’s house!” Of course, everyone is shouting, “Amen.” Next, he said, “I want everybody to turn to the second chapter of Hezekiah. We’re going to look into God’s Word today. How many are there?”
About 15 people raised their hands. “Yeah, I’ve got it! Second chapter of Hezekiah.” Then the pastor said, “What do you mean? There is no book of Hezekiah.”
We can get into such a rut. We can let our disciples become so rote. I’m telling you, every time you open the Word of God, you have to pray, “Oh Lord. Speak to me from your Word.” Otherwise, you’ll just flip through the Bible, thinking, “I know that verse. I know what that means.” We don’t know it, though. There are new depths God wants to show us, so let’s treat the scriptures like God’s sacred and living words.
In Peter’s second letter to the church, he warned people to remember the judgment of the world, how everything around us is going away. After he said all that, he added, “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God…” (2 Peter 3:11-12, ESV).
Holy means separated and pure, unlike the contamination around you. Godly means devoted. The first priority for us is Jesus, and every day means walking with him. His values, goals and will are what we follow. We ought to live this way with holy and godly lives as we wait for Christ to return.
Right now it seems like it’s man’s day. The day belongs to politics and Hollywood, and they’re mocking God. He is patient, waiting for people to repent and turn to him. Meanwhile, we return to his living Word. We remind ourselves with intention of what it means to be holy and godly.
Jim Cymbala began the Brooklyn Tabernacle with less than twenty members in a small, rundown building in a difficult part of the city. A native of Brooklyn, he is a longtime friend of both David and Gary Wilkerson.