What is holiness really? You might have heard that the word literally means “set apart.” Well what sets us apart exactly? By what standard is holiness defined? Every believer should be able to answer that question, not just posses an abstract notion of it. Is it a universal truth that even God must answer to? Or is it merely what God wishes it to be? The true answer is this, the standard of holiness is God himself. It is a reflection of his very nature and character. God is holiness incarnate. To be holy is to emulate him. (1 Peter 1:15-16, Psalms 99:5, Isaiah 43:15, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Ephesians 4:22-24)
The concept is so very simple, yet somehow we manage to make it complicated. Which is precisely why we must seek holiness with God’s guidance and strength. Approaching holiness through worship is a critical step towards that. Not by our own efforts in a misguided attempt to make ourselves worthy of his presence. (2 Corinthians 12:1-10, 1 Peter 5:7) Without God, it is truly impossible. The reason we complicate the simple, lies in our dual nature. While our spirit gravitates towards the holy, for that is its natural desire. There is another side to us though, which is the flesh, where our sinful nature resides. Our flesh wants to go in the exact opposite direction that the spirit does. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that following and giving into the sinful nature is so very easy. Yet, there are still those who get so caught up in the “don’t do this” mentality, that we tend to forget about what we can and should do in the spirit. This mentality often just turns into a standard by which we look down upon those who fail at holiness. Is that how the holy should act though? The truth is we fail at holiness the moment we take pride in it. (Proverbs 13:10 & 21:24, Psalm 59:12 & 69:26-28) So there is nothing left to take pride in once we do. If we were really so righteous we would want to help people in their pursuit of holiness out of love, not condemn them. Only those who have honestly tried to overcome the flesh via God’s strength could ever be sympathetic towards the plight of self-destructive sinners, or even have a clue how to help them; rather than just criticize and condemn them. As Galatians 5 reveals, the spirit does not lead us toward hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions or factions as critical self-righteous people often do. That is not proper worship, those are unholy products of the flesh. Besides, you can’t truly say you’ve succeeded at holiness until you are following the spirit, not just denying the flesh.
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| Heart of Obedience |
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