HOLINESS

WHAT IS HOLINESS?

True happiness begins with holiness. Holiness isn't something that is required to only certain Christians; it's a requirement for all Christians. If we want to live our lives as holy people and present our bodies to Christ as a living sacrifice, then we must know what holiness is and what God requires. In Leviticus it teaches us how to appreciate holiness and how to fit it into our lives. Sometimes we find ourselves wanting Jesus to solve all our problems and carry our burdens, but we don’t want Him to fix it by literally taking control our lives because there are certain things that we don't want to give up that we must remove from our life. 1st Peter 1:15,16 God who has CALLED us is holy so we should be in ALL manner of conversation because it is written.

Holiness means: set apart and marked off, that which is different; separateness; apartness; sacredness. To be whole, to be healthy, sanctify, consecrated, sacred, blameless. This is who Christ is coming for when he return!

In the Old Testament, anything that God said is holy had to be treated differently from the common things in life. The Sabbath was holy because God set it apart, from all the other days, for His people. The priests were holy and were set apart to minister to the Lord. The garments that the priest had to wear were holy and could not be duplicated for common use. The tithes were holy and set apart from the other monies or food or whatever they used for tithes. (Today, if we tithe even our time that should be set apart from the common). Marriage is holy and set apart from any other relation. My relationship with my mother is not holy but if I were married, my relationship with my husband would be holy, set apart from every other relationship on earth, and must be treated as such. In Ezra when the Jews married outside, because they were a holy people that are set apart, they had to repent and divorce their wives. I'm not condoning divorce but I am making a point about the seriousness of a marriage being holy. The Bible is set apart from all books and cannot be replaced with any other book. You can read other books but it can't take the place of God's own holy word. And of course the law is holy.

God revealed Himself to us as a Holy God separated from any other false god. His name is so holy that the Jews felt it to be unworthy to write his name down in case we use His name in vain by mistake, so we have YHWH. That shows you how trained they were regarding holiness. Obviously God approved this way or else He would have told them to write his full name down. God is so holy that if we were to come close to holy (naturally without the Holy Spirit) it would lead us to eternal fire! It can only be the holy blood from a holy sacrifice that can set us free from the punishment of sin. There is nothing natural we can do that will make us holy. It is the Holy Christ in us, the dwelling of the Holy Spirit that gives us the Spirit of Christ. And we are known by our fruits. 

 What are the fruits of the Spirit? Gal 5:22 Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is not law. Why, because when we have Christ, the law is written in us so we are not subjects of the law, we are the living example. All these are equal to Love. If you say you love Christ but hate another Christian you are a liar and the truth is not in you! If you say you have a personal relationship with Christ and live in sin, you are a liar and the truth is not in you. Does that mean you never sin? Well you’re not supposed to but no, it doesn't mean that. Before we were saved we daily use to practice sin. We crucify the flesh daily. We should never get comfortable in our Christian walk but daily work on being holy. We as Christians are set apart from the rest of the world.

God hate sin but thank God he loves sinners, for that's how we Christians became saved because he loved us while we were sinners. Don't ever let the devil convince you otherwise. But don't be fooled either, hell has been expanded for the unrepented, unsaved sinners. Ok I lost track I am compelled to write my thoughts but back to holiness.

We have to remember that God has not changed. His laws are perfect and they were placed to set us apart from everyone else. We are not under the law because if we were than Christ death wouldn't be enough to save us because once we repent and confess, that same hour we would have messed everything up. We are guilty of sin known and unknown to us. Just like the laws in the USA. If we break a law we can't say, officer I didn't know that was against the law? Ignorance of the law doesn't set you free. So even though we are not under the law, because we have a better covenant, we have the Holy Spirit that has placed the law in our hearts and is daily teaching us how to obey Him correctly.

Lastly regarding Holiness

There was a wedding and there was mentioned one who did not have on the wedding garment (Jesus Christ) the Lord asked? Where is your garment? Notice that person said nothing. What could they say? Also notice that he was invited. We are all invited to the wedding but only those who wear the garment of holiness will be joined with Christ at the end. Christ died for him and he didn’t want to receive the garment? Well, God told him basically to go to hell. There is no other way to the father but through the Son.

Romas 12:1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. NLT 

Written June 03, 2009