A sixteen year old boy was walking home from school. Suddenly a light from heaven surrounded him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him: “If you will live a holy life from now until you are 60 years old you shall receive $25 million dollars. From 60 to when you are 90 you will have perfect health and all of your needs will be met.”

A friend from school stopped to help him up. When he opened his eyes he could not see. His friend took him to his home. He did not eat or drink for three days wondering what this was all about. He heard a knock at his door. He opened it and a man said Christ sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit. The stranger placed his hand on his head and the young man was able to see again. Something like scales fell from his eyes and he could see as before. He had an Acts 9:3 – 17 experience.

He knew that if he could live a holy life until 60 he would receive $25 million. The first thing he did was to begin researching: What is required to live a holy life. Hebrews 12:14 – “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” I Thessalonians 4:7 – “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.”

His research told him holiness is love! Holiness is everything love is. He was told to press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed in me. The evidence of love and holiness is found in fellowship. Love was described in Greek as being an AGAPE love. It is a love that is unconditional requiring nothing in return. It is not automatic, it cannot be described but it can be demonstrated.

To live a holy life requires a servant’s heart and to substitute his own ego for God. God is a person’s only master. We are in his service. Holiness is a wholesome life in God. The holiness that he must have was to be given into the lives of those around him. This requires that his hearts be right with God. He had to ask: “Does God’s love for me, give me a passion to serve Him? I must know that my heart is right toward others. Do I realize that God created me to glorify Him? My love must show in my time at school or in my work. Holiness can only be perfected through love. Holiness is the image of God duplicated in the heart of a person resulting in living as the example set by Christ.

Matthew 16:26 – “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”

Holiness will not exist until we have a repentant heart, a renewing of our mind, a self-love that requires self-acceptance, self-esteem and respect for one’s self. Man was made in the image of God before the fall. As God is love; man is to love. As God is pure, man was created to be pure. He is required to strive for perfect obedience. To recap holiness is love, pure love, personal and mutual love between God and man and between man and man in God’s love. Holiness is a life that must not be distracted. We can easily lose focus by the electronic inventions of the past 50 years.

Once the teenager had done his research as to how to live a holy life, it came to him that the $25 million dollars was nothing in comparison to what heaven will be like. The difference is: I know what it would be like to have all that money and perfect health.

However, there will be far more than that in heaven. He had been really excited realizing how he could become a multi-millionaire and had an immediate passion to learn how to live a holy life in order to get it. Then he realized. I have been offered something far greater than that in heaven. I can have an eternal life and be with God and Christ forever. Both take faith and trust but one is much more rewarding. He decided that if the $25 million were to happen and he could live 30 years in retirement with perfect health it is not comparable to the future in heaven. In fact, he thought if my ultimate goal was the money then would it really be possible to live a holy life? Would the money take the place of God? Would I be so concentrated on the money that I could be distracted and lose focus on God and Christ? Maybe it would be harder to live morally for the money than it would be to live to enter heaven. So he decided that his goal would be a relationship with God and live according to His ways. What happened concerning the money and a perfect retirement had to be secondary and a by-product.