Huzzah40

Being holy is to be consecrated and sanctified through God's Holy Spirit. Holiness can not be achieved in your own flesh but only through God. It is not something that is done immediately but is developed over the course of our entire lifetime. It is not actually fully realized until we are in Heaven. We are set apart used for God's purposes and He takes us from glory to glory. Of course, He receives ALL the GLORY! The remission of our sins was accomplished through His Blood. He redeemed us from death. When we accept what he has done for us on the cross and accept Him as our Savior, then His Blood sacrifice has made us pure as snow though our sins were as scarlet. When we repent, His Blood washes away our sins. We are "blameless" only because of what Christ did on our behalf.

I am not certain how to answer about predestination being scary because it is not scary to me. It brings me hope to know that God sees the big picture and is prepared for every eventuality. He gives us free choice but there is already something in place to deal with whether or not we make the right decision. Paul deals with predestination because he is determined to convey to us that our life has already been predetermined. I do not believe that some people were born into the world without the opportunity for Salvation because God's plan is that all come to Him and that not one perishes. Jesus has not returned yet because He wants as many to come to Him as possible. I know God has predetermined when He will come again but that day is unknown to us all.

When thinking about the phrase "in Christ", the image that Christ potrays in the Bible of the vine and the branch come immediately to mind. He is the vine and I am the branch. I abide in Him and He abides in me. As long as I am attached to the "Vine", I receive substanance. In Christ, all things are possible. If I try to respond to something in my flesh, it never works. However, as I seek Him, His Spirit directs, counsels, warns, encourages, teaches, ministers.... about all things because He resides in my heart. My earthly father is now deceased but when he was alive there was one day at work when his skin was accidently burned with acid. He had to have the affected skin grafted. The doctors took skin from another part of his body and grafted it - somehow molded it to the wound and made it look brand new. Likewise I am having my affected area (sin) grafted as I am "incorporated" into Christ. I am being transformed in to His image. My old man has passed away and my new man is being transformed. It does not mean I am perfect because I am so far from that. Only God is perfect. It does mean I am changing much like a caterpillar in a cocoon (in Chrysalis form) and when I get to Heaven I will emerge as the beautiful butterfly that He created me to be.