Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
Before we met Christ, we had an aim in our life, a calling—and it was not toward God. Whether we realized it or not, our natural inclination, our natural direction, was toward impurity. We were driven by our own desires, driven by pride, driven by selfish ambition. It wasn't just that we did bad things—it was in our very nature. It was like we were tuned to a frequency of sin. But then something life-changing happened: God called you. When God calls someone, He changes them from the inside out.
A Brand New Identity
He doesn't just give them a new set of rules to live by—He changes the course of their life. He changes the aim of their life. He gives them a brand new identity. The word holy means to be set apart. It literally means to be cut off—and in this case, it means to be set apart for God's use. If you are a Christian, you have been set apart by God. If you are a Christian, you are holy. That is your new status. You're not striving to become holy so that God will love you and accept you. No—you are living holy because you are holy. God has already loved you. He's accepted you. He's adopted you into His family. He has set you apart. To live a holy life is to live in accordance with who you are.
The Recalibrated Compass
Think of it like this. Imagine you've got a compass. Before you were saved, you were a broken compass, always pointing in the direction of self, always pointing in the direction of sin. But when God saved you, He reached down and fixed the mechanism of that compass and recalibrated you to point toward Him—so that now your aim in life, your calling, has changed. You do not live anymore in impurity the way you once lived, because that is no longer who you are. You've been made pure. You've been made holy. You live in holiness because that is who you are. Charles Spurgeon put it this way: "A Christian is not a man who is trying to be holy. He is a man who has been made holy by the power of the Holy Spirit. His life is now a struggle to stay true to his new nature. He loathes the impurity he once loved, and he loves the holiness he once feared."
Take a Look at Your Aim
Take a look at your aim today. Consider what your aim is in life. If you find yourself drifting—as we all do at times—toward patterns of impurity, stop and remind yourself of this verse: that is not me anymore. I have been set apart. I am a child of the holy God and I'm going to live like it.
