Written by Deanna Brooks, volunteer with Iron Rose Sister Ministries in Arkansas
Do you think about being HOLY? What does it mean to you?
Peter writes, “as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘you shall be holy, for I am holy.’” (1 Pet 1:15-16 ESV.)
Simply defined, “holy” means “set apart for a purpose.” The word is used over 900 times in Scripture. To me, that means it is important...that God is trying to get a message across to us.
In Isaiah 6:1-6 we read of Isaiah’s vision and how in verse 1 the train of God’s robe filled the temple. In ancient days the length of the train of a king’s robe measured his greatness. Isaiah tells us God’s train filled the temple, and the earth is filled with His glory.
We are the temple of God, and His glory should fill our lives.
“Be holy as I am holy” is found several times in Leviticus and in 1 Peter 1:16. Other passages like John 14:23, 1 Corinthians 3:16, and Galatians 3:20 speak of Christ and the Spirit living in us.
So, if the Holy One lives in us, we have become the temple in which He resides. What does it mean for us to become the temple of God?
In John 17 Jesus prayed for us to live in the world, yet be separate from the world and that we would be protected from the evil one. We stand between two places…the holy and the common…the clean and the unclean…and we daily seek the difference and strive to make choices that bring glory to the Father. Part of being holy is making a decision between what Jesus would have us do and the enticement of the world around us.
When we are holy it affects our speech, our dress, our choice of entertainment, how we spend our time, and our attitude towards others. We don’t joke about the Holy One, but we treat Him with reverence.
Our Heavenly Father demands that we treat Him as holy. Moses was not allowed into the Promised Land because he did not uphold God as holy (Numbers 20:12.)
Nadab and Abihu failed to treat God as holy. In Exodus 24 and Leviticus 9 we read they had been among those chosen to go with Moses and the 70 to see God…then in Leviticus 10 they decided to “do things their way.” (verses 1-5). God was not pleased and they died. They treated God casually, not as holy.
In Lev 10:3 (ESV) we read: “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.” And Aaron held his peace.”
Sanctified means: set apart or declared holy.
Glorified means: to honor or exalt.
We all bear the consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin…they exalted the words of the serpent and did not honor the holiness of God.
God demands to be treated as holy, and He wants us to be like Him. Heb 12:14 (ESV): “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”
That’s how important our holiness is to God. If we are not holy, we will not see Him.
Jesus did not come to earth and die because of pity. He came to make us holy and return us to the relationship for which we were created.
As believers we are to be holy not because we want to be loved by God but because we are already loved in Christ. We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19), and the best way to show that we love God is by seeking to become holy because He is Holy.
One thing I have done in reading through the Bible is to write down Scriptures that mention holy or being like Jesus. Making Jesus our LORD is the path to being holy as He is holy, and we do that by absolute surrender to His will.
I want to challenge you as you read through the Scriptures to mark or make a list of Scriptures that speak to being holy. They may not have the word “holy” in them. It may be a scripture like Eph 4:32 which tells us to be kind and tender-hearted towards one another.
Remember: without holiness we will not see God. Let’s live our lives, asking if what we are doing is making us more like God… let’s strive to be holy as He is holy!