Written by Deanna Brooks, volunteer with Iron Rose Sister Ministries in Arkansas
“Must be nice to be so holy!” Or someone might say, “You just think you are better than anyone else.” Has anyone ever said that to you when you made the decision not to participate in something you felt was wrong?
In the beginning God said, “Let us make man in our image” (Gen. 1:26-27, ESV).
What does it mean to be made in the image of God? Briefly, it means we act like God.
Look at children you know well. Do their mannerisms, speech patterns, and attitudes remind you of one of their parents? This is what God wants from us… to be like Him.
The main attribute of God is His holiness. HOLY is the only attribute taken to the third degree… holy, holy, holy!
“Be holy as I am holy,” is repeated several times in the book of Leviticus (11:44,45; 19:2; 20:7, 26).
1 Peter 1:16 repeated the admonition to Christians.
To be holy is to be set apart. Isaiah 43:7 tells us we are created for His glory.
When we confess Jesus as the Christ, our Savior, the promised Messiah, and are immersed for remission of our sins, we have made our decision to be like our Heavenly Father and reflect His image. We have “put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:24). We have chosen to be different from the world. We have been called to a different purpose.
How does this look in daily life? It means our thoughts, speech, and actions are holy, that they would be how God would choose to be. It means we choose to practice the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). It means, “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Phil. 4:8).
In John 17:14-16, Jesus prayed, “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” Jesus knew we would encounter difficulties in our quest to follow Him and be holy, so He prayed for us to be protected from Satan.
The Hebrew writer impresses how important holiness is when he writes, “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). Holiness is imperative, if we want to see God!
The Father created us in the beginning in His image… an image of holiness… so as we walk towards our home with Him, let us strive to make His original plan our reality.