Holiness
The state of being Holy, we believe, must be inside and out. Is it possible to be Holy and not have the entire individual affected? God commands that we are holy as He is. (1 Peter 1:16) He states that there must first be an inward cleansing which will result in an outward cleansing. This inner washing will eventually reveal itself on the outside. Just as an individual would never faithfully keep the inside of a house clean, while allowing the outside to remain filthy and unkempt, neither does God desire us to focus only on purifying the inward man while allowing the outside to continue to appear ungodly and dirty. Upon salvation, the entire man has come under new management and we believe the entire man should be changed. Following salvation, God places on us the responsibility of passing the good news of God’s love and salvation to as many people as possible. We are His light to a world darkened by sin. When people around us look at us, their initial view cannot show them the change God has enacted on our inner life. The only indicator they have of a difference in our lives is our appearance. Many studies have been done to show that a first impression is a lasting impression. It is what the majority of people use to form a lasting conclusion about you and your life. Scripture reinforces this idea of our human tendency to make judgments based upon what we see with the story of David being chosen as king. As Samuel was looking for a king to replace Saul, he looked only on the outward appearance of David's brother, Eliab and thought he was the chosen one. God saw that David had something inside even when his outward appearance showed a ruddy young man. Samuel wouldn't have even considered David because of what he saw on the outside of his brother. (1 Samuel 16:7) Very sad indeed, considering that David had no control over these particular outwardly visible things. If people will make a decision on God's abilities to use a person, or change a life, or mend a broken heart based upon our outward appearance, I want to make sure that the things I do have control over on the inside and the outside are the way that God wants them. Of course this does not mean that we are excused from the inner change simply because we have established an outward change. Our responsibility to both inner and outer changes is required and our commitment to both should be equal. The Bible teaches that the inward change occurs first, and the outward change portrays this great event of salvation in our lives. The picture is of a life completely given over to God, Who lovingly cleanses that life from the inside out. As a result, those around us are given a glimpse into the changing power of God at their first glance of us. As their relationships with us grow deeper, Christ’s love and the power of a changed life should become more and more evident to them .
In Hebrews 12:14 the Bible says, "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." There are two ways to look at this verse. The first is, if we do not live peaceably and holy (inside and out) then we will not see God in Heaven. Our poor choices will send us to Hell. The second viewpoint is if we do not live a peaceable and holy life, inwardly and outwardly, then those that are around us might not see God reflected in us. (Matthew 5:13-16) Hence, we want to lives pure before God and man that we might find God's favor, and show man his Savior.
Inwardly, God wants our minds and hearts pure. He wants us to put away hatred, envy, strife and lust, etc. (Ephesians 4:31-32; Matthew 5:28) God wants us to think on things that are just, pure, holy and lovely. (Philippians 4:8)
Outwardly, God wants the internal purity to be reflected. For example, He tells us to love our brother, our neighbor and our enemy. (Matthew 5:44) We can say that we possess this love inwardly, but if we portray a life of arguing, backbiting and revenge, it will be quite difficult for anyone to see God’s love or even believe that we truly possess it. Similarly, when He admonishes us to live of life of purity and modesty and to be our brother’s keeper, but we dress and conduct ourselves in a way that displays our body to encourage lustful thoughts, we create a situation in which others cannot see Christ when they look at us.
These combined concepts create what we refer to as, "Holiness." Christian scholars call it Sanctification. Sanctification is separating from a former life that was bound for Hell and setting apart our life for God's use. The Bible calls this our "reasonable service." (Romans 12:1) It shows a turning from sin and a turning to God. Paul the Apostle said it like this, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17) Simply put; all means all. Our entire self, inwardly and outwardly, must be sanctified and holy.
This Sanctification has its benefits. As we give more to God, God gives more to us. (Deuteronomy 15:10) In the upper room on the day of Pentecost, those that were there had given God their time, energy and will. What did God do? He gave them one of the greatest blessings after salvation: the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost came unto that 120 because they had separated themselves in the upper room, and set themselves apart for God's service. (Acts 1&2) We believe we can and do have this same experience. Just like you can see Christ in our outward appearance, we believe you can hear our inward experience by our words. "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." (Matthew 12:34) This is what makes our music so very different than many other "Christian" radio stations out there.
It’s music you can feel. It's music that gets inside of you. It's music that is Holy as He is Holy . . . it's Holiness Voices Radio.
