Be Holy As God Is Holy
The Word of God says, “Consecrate yourself and be holy, because I am the Lord your God. Keep my decrees and follow them, I am the Lord, who makes you holy,” The name of God here revealed is: YHWH-M’kaddesh, The Lord who makes you holy. God alone is Holy and He makes it clear that only He, not the law, can cleanse His people and make them holy.
Holiness has for many years been an enigma for me. The church, I was raised in, was of a “Holiness” denomination. When I was young, I heard many sermons on sanctification and holiness. Most of the time, it had to do with keeping the rules and customs of our denomination. As I reached my teens years, I began to question whether these rules were really all that important, for I saw that many were not being practiced by the majority of the people, especially the youth. I interpreted this as hypocrisy and that what the church was demanding of the people was ridiculous and impossible.
To make matters worse, when I read the Scriptures, especially the teachings of Jesus, and I saw that the level of holiness that was expected was far beyond what I could possibly do. I read verses such as: “…everyone who looks on a woman with lust has already committed adultery” and, “…whoever is angry with his brother is liable to judgment…” and, “do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek turn to him the other also,” (Mat. 5:27-28, 21-22, 39). I knew I couldn’t keep all this so I turned away and walked the path of sin. My error was that I saw holiness as what I had to do, rather than who God is.
Holiness for us is only possible when the Holy Spirit comes to live in us. This occurs as we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and receive the forgiveness of our sins. The Holy Spirit joins Himself to our spirit and we are one with Him. Because of His redeeming work in our lives, we are cleansed from sin, made righteous and holy in His sight. In salvation, we come to know the Lord as Yahweh-M’kaddesh. The daily outworking of this is realized through the “consecration” of our lives. This is when we give ourselves more and more to the Lord. It is not only important that we have the Lord, but also that the Lord has us. It is the “letting go” of our self-will and “letting God” have control of our lives. He desires to transform us into His image; to be Holy as He is Holy.
Scriptures to meditate on:
Leviticus 20:7-8; 11:44; John 17:17-19; I Thes. 5:23; I Cor. 6:17; Rev. 15:4