This post was written by Tacoi D. Bell of The Anointed Editorial. To connect with Tacoi, see the information in the bio at the end of this post.
In Leviticus chapters 19 and 20, God tells us to be holy as he is. This means being pure and righteous — in thoughts, words, and action. When we choose God, we choose to walk after his likeness. He can only be holy, so we must strive to be the same every day.
Bearing God’s Burden
Loving God and seeking God are burdens carried by every believer in the pursuit of righteousness. And God, through Jesus, tells us in Matthew 11:30 that the burden is light. That’s a promise from Heaven.
Part of the burden bearing that we share with Jesus is carrying our cross. Matthew 16:24 reads:
Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." (ESV)
To be like God, we must literally be like God and face ridicule, rejection, and mockery as Jesus did.
Moreover, Jesus died on the cross. While we will not succumb to a physical death, we are subjected to a spiritual one daily. This further exemplifies the holiness mentioned in Leviticus 19 and 20.
Sometimes we may feel the pressure of what truly living for God means, but it is never heavy or difficult to carry. It’s weightless.
Becoming Weightless – The Commitment to Sinlessness
On our path to be the embodiment of Jesus, we must make some difficult but necessary decisions. Becoming weightless means letting go of any earthly attachment that doesn’t glorify God. This doesn’t necessarily apply to indifferent earthly attachments — those things that, while not necessarily bad to participate in, are unhelpful to our God-given purpose. The weightiness of life that I am referring to is those things that can lead us to sin.
Close Relationships
I can personally attest that the last two years have stretched many of the personal relationships I prioritized. In my effort to be more like Jesus and at the leading of the Holy Spirit, I let go of those attachments that were necessary to release.
We must determine if the close relationships we are in help us glorify God or turn us away from him. If we find that the relationship leads us away from him, let’s seek God for the next step on how to shift (or end) the relationship.
Pain and Trauma
Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. (3 John 1:2, ESV)
God never intended for us to take such soul-compromising blows at the hands of others. He even says in his Word that all souls are his (Ezekiel 18:4). But the truth is that we live in a fallen world, which subjects us to wickedness.
Negative life events can alter the condition of our soul, lodging within us deep pain and trauma that we simply can’t escape. This pain, this trauma, can lead us down a path of sin and personal destruction. However, God has given us tools to deal with the pain of the past, heal our soul, and become weightless yet again.
Callings That Shift Our Lives
Attempting to oppose God’s call on our life adds weight to us. Until we accept our purpose, we will see that the pieces of life may not come together quite like they should.
Jesus tells us that when we allow God’s purpose to rule in our lives we find our lives again . I believe this speaks to the control we try to exert over what happens to us. We are merely clay on the potter’s wheel. We must learn to relinquish control. We’ll find that when we do, we are able to accomplish more than we ever dreamed on our own.
The commitment to sinlessness means letting go of whatever hinders us from walking holy as he is holy. It is for our good, not to our detriment, that we let go of anything that doesn’t truly serve us as we serve him.
Featured photo by Jack B on Unsplash; In-text photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash
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