Holiness With an Asterisk

Most Christians are for holy living in theory.

They'll say amen when the preacher thunders about separation. They'll nod along when the Sunday school lesson hits worldliness. They'll post the verse, share the quote, sign off on the doctrine.

Then the preacher pulls them aside. A brother or sister in Christ speaks up. And suddenly, they're not for holy living anymore. They're for their living, with a Bible verse nearby to keep it feeling covered.

This is the quiet crisis nobody names. It's not outright rebellion. It's not atheism in the pew. It's holiness with an asterisk — I'll go this far and no further.

"I'll give God my Sundays. My Wednesdays. My tithe. But not my playlist. Not my wardrobe. Not the shows I watch at midnight. Not the ambitions I've been nursing that have nothing to do with His glory."

And when somebody actually says it — the worldly music, the immodest dress, the appetite for everything the world is selling — the response isn't repentance. It's offense. "You're being legalistic." "Nobody's perfect." "God looks at the heart." Which is true. And the heart is exactly what's in question.

Romans 12:2 doesn't say "be not conformed to this world unless it's just music and fashion." It says "be not conformed." Period. The transformation Paul is describing isn't cosmetic. It's comprehensive. Mind, affections, desires, standards — all of it on the altar.

The problem isn't that Christians love the world. The problem is that they've made peace with it — and they expect the church to do the same.

The church that does that isn't helping you. It's hurting you and calling it grace.

A preacher's job is not to make you comfortable in your carnality. It's to love you enough to say what you need to hear. A true friend in Christ isn't going to watch you drift and stay quiet about it because you might get upset.

You don't have to live like the world to get along in it. You don't have to dress like it, sound like it, chase what it chases, or want what it wants.

"Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid." — Matthew 5:14

You can't be a light that looks exactly like the darkness around it.

Holy living isn't a performance for the church crowd. It's what comes out of a heart that's genuinely submitted to God — one that doesn't just nod at separation on Sunday but lives it Monday through Saturday without being asked twice.

Believe it when it costs you something. That's when it counts.

Pastor Fortunato
Founding Pastor & Preacher of the Word
Pilgrim Baptist Church — Cookeville, Tennessee

https://pilgrimbaptist.church/
https://www.sermonaudio.com/solo/pilgrimbaptist/