The lifestyle that Jesus Christ designed for His church is vastly different from a lifestyle of sin. But Jesus does not demand of us a lifestyle that we cannot live. He has provided the inner transformation and the power for us to live the lifestyle that pleases Him. One’s life can be transformed into a new creation in Christ Jesus. Old sinful habits and carnal strivings pass away and a new life of holiness begins.
By David K. Bernard
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Hailing therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. II Corinthians 7:1
On the sixth day of Creation, when God created man, He did so with extreme care. He made man in His own image. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27). Man was made to worship God, to fellowship with Him, and to bring glory to Him. Man was made for high purposes and with lofty ambitions.
Mankind, through Satan’s temptations and Adam and Eve’s subsequent yielding, entered into a lifestyle of living below his original privilege and purpose. Only as mankind returns to the first pattern of Creation—made in God’s image—will true peace and happiness be his.
Jesus Christ—Our Pattern
As Jesus Christ walked on this earth and lived His exemplary lifestyle, He set a pattern for man to follow. By living in a Christ-like manner as His indwelling Spirit enables us, we find real contentment, joyful living, and fulfillment of purpose.
The world is different from what it was in the first century. However, the same “spirit of holiness” that was in the early church is in the United Pentecostal Church International In an age of pleasure, compromise, and promiscuity, the United Pentecostal Church members are endeavoring to keep themselves unspotted from the world. Though they are “in the world,” they are not “of the world.”
Every Christian needs to seek things that are of God rather than things that are of this earth. What speaks more clearly to us, things set apart unto God, or things set apart unto this world? What system of values do we live by, God’s values or the carnal values of this world? Jesus said, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
The world urges us to become preoccupied with getting, while God’s system urges us to be preoccupied with giving. Paul told the leaders at Ephesus, “I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).
Jesus said, “And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Luke 12:29-31).
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