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Holy

Thanksgiving Focus: God is Holy

by TerryLema

“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD Almighty!” [Revelation 4:8]

Holy. Set Apart. Endlessly, Always Perfect. Sacred.

“Be Holy because I am Holy.” [Leviticus 11:44]

Oh LORD, you have called me to be holy, and yet I am utterly incapable of meeting your standards.

“God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy….and you have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.” [1Peter 1:2 NLT]

I am set apart by the blood of Christ Jesus, to whom I have and continue to surrender all.

As I lift my heart in praise today … as my lips speak Your Wondrous Glory … Be exalted in all and every way in my life.

Amen.

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Holy, Holy, Holy

by TerryLema

We are all familiar with Isaiah’s reaction to the presence of the LORD in Chapter 6. While the Seraphim announced that God is “Holy, Holy, Holy,” Isaiah recognized his own lack of holiness, “Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips.” [vs 3, 5 HCSB]

Over and over and over in Scripture we are told that God is holy and that we are to be “holy” because He is holy. We are also told that God hates sin. “For You are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil cannot dwell with You.” [Psalm 5:4 HCSB]

God hates sin because it is the very opposite of His Holy nature. His Holiness is the core of His nature. God also hates sin because He knows that it separates us from Him. He knows what sin can and does do. I think, however, there are times when Christians are cavalier about sin. We may not fully comprehend the depth of God’s hatred of it.

We must never miscalculate the power and the seriousness of sin. We must never underestimate what sin will do when it gets a foothold in our life. It will leave us wretched. And as it progresses, destruction follows in its wake.

“Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” [James 1:15 HCSB]

There is no such thing as a “small” or “insignificant” sin. Sin never remains static. It grows and will eventually ruin. That is why it is imperative we take care of sin when it is first conceived.

Thankfully, God has made the way (Christ Jesus’ cross and resurrection) for us to do that.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” [1 John 1:9 HCSB]

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The Christian Life

by TerryLema

Just a final thought out of Colossians. There is a paragraph in Chapter 3 that talks about the Christian Life and what it should look like. You’ll find it in verses 12-17. If you get a chance read it today.

As I started to read that paragraph, I got stuck on how we are described in the beginning of verse 12. We are “God’s chosen ones, holy and loved.” [HCSB]

We are God’s chosen. Not because we are something special, but solely by the grace of God. We responded to an invitation to come to Him because we were weary and weak and worn and bankrupt.

We are holy. Not by our own efforts but because “He [Christ Jesus] has reconciled [us] by His physical body through His death, to present [us] holy, faultless, and blameless before Him.” [Colossians 1:22 HCSB]

We are loved. Not because we are lovable, but because He is love and has showered His mercy, grace, and love upon us. In fact, He loved us when we were His enemies, when we were rebellious, when we were shaking our fists at Him and shouting that we would not have Him rule over us. Still, He loved us.

Now we have a choice – to live like we are chosen, holy and loved.

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Be Holy

by TerryLema

“Be holy for I am holy.”  That is the command of our God in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, but that also raises questions.  If we are to be holy, what exactly is holiness? Is our holiness and God’s holiness the same or is it different? And of course, the ageless question, how exactly do we achieve this holiness to which we are called?

We probably should begin with God’s holiness.  “… for I am holy.”  When we speak of God as holy, we are saying he is “wholly other” or “wholly above.” God is unlike any other being, He is absolute perfection. There is not even a microscopic trace of anything other than perfection in Him. He is high above all others, no one compares to Him. Every other attribute is governed by His Holiness—holy mercy, holy grace, holy love, holy wrath. We can’t even grasp that kind of holiness, let alone achieve it.

So what kind of holiness is God indicating for us when he says, “Be holy ….”  We certainly can’t be “wholly other” or “wholly above.” For us, holiness may be defined as “wholly apart.” When God called Israel out of Egypt, he set them apart from other nations. He gave them specific instructions to govern their lives so that the world would know that they belonged to Him.

When Peter repeated the command regarding holiness in the New Testament (1 Peter 1:16), he talked specifically to believers and indicated that we needed to be set apart from the world. We are to be governed by God’s standards not the world’s or our own. Holiness calls us to be distinct, “wholly apart,” not perfect.

That leaves the last question. How do we achieve this holiness to which we are called? That can only come from a right relationship with God through the work of Jesus Christ our Savior. We cannot achieve holiness through our own efforts. To try to be holy without first being born-again in Christ Jesus is to descend into legalism, not the freedom found in Christ. Remember what Paul wrote to the Ephesians? “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.” [Eph 2:6 NIV]

Seated with Christ Jesus in the heavenly realm is truly “wholly apart” from the world. As we learn to live in that, we can truly “be holy for I am holy.”

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Wonder!

by TerryLema

Jesus took Peter, James, and John to the top of a mountain and was transfigured before them.  Coming down from that experience he found the other disciples arguing with some teachers of the law. A large crowd was standing around watching. The argument apparently was focused on a father with a son possessed by a spirit that continually tried to kill him. The other disciples had tried to cast the spirit out but had been unsuccessful. Jesus, however, cast out the spirit and set the young boy free.

This morning as I was reading that chapter, instead of focusing on the transfiguration or the events surrounding Jesus and this father and son, I found myself focusing on a verse between those two events. “As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.” [Mark 9:15]

The people were overwhelmed with “wonder.” The English does not do that Greek word justice. It is a very intensive word, used only in Mark’s Gospel.  It means to “astonish utterly, to greatly amaze.” It even carries a hint of fright.

The people were greatly amazed before they even saw the miracle. They were utterly astonished simply when they saw Jesus.

There is something undefinable that happens when coming face to face with holiness. Moses knew it on the mountain with God, Isaiah felt it when he saw the vision of God high and lifted up in the heavenly temple. The crowd recognized it when Jesus descended from the transfiguration on the mountain.

Oh God, how holy, how wondrous You are. Blessed be the Lord God Almighty. Amen.

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Holy

by TerryLema

Heb 10:10: “We have been made holy [sanctified] through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” [NIV]

The opening verses in Hebrews 10 talk about man’s greatest problem, which of course is sin.  That passage (verses 1-9) point to Christ’s atoning work on the cross and describe it as a better sacrifice.

That passage highlights our need for that better sacrifice (rather than the multitudes of animal sacrifices offered down through the millennium), and it emphasizes the provision of that better sacrifice when Jesus offered His body and His blood at Calvary.

Then in verse 10, the author of Hebrews writes of the effectiveness of that better sacrifice in those who place their faith in Christ Jesus.  We have been made holy … once for all.  We have been set apart, consecrated, sanctified finally and completely. 

Most of the time I don’t feel very holy, especially as I compare myself to God’s standards.  Most of the time I don’t think I act very holy either.  My words, my motives, my desires are often clouded by the world, my own sin-nature, and yes, even the influence of the enemy of my soul.

Still, God has declared I have been made holy once and for all, finally and completely.  How can that be?  It can be because my holiness is not based on my own feeble efforts to reflect the God of my salvation.  My holiness is based on the work of my Savior who offered His body for my sins, and His righteousness for my sinfulness.

When Jesus cried, “It is finished!” from the cross, the holiness of all those who place their faith in Him became finished.  While we don’t see it as finished in ourselves, or in each other, God sees it as such.  We’ve been set apart, and one day we will experience the culmination of that when we see Jesus face-to-face.  As we wait that day, we strive to live a life worthy of our calling, being transformed into the image of God’s Dear Son.

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Ready for Action!

by TerryLema

After reading in Peter’s first letter about our “imperishable uncorrupted, and unfading [inheritance], kept in heaven for [us]” and about God’s power protecting us, I read a little further and a couple words caught my attention.  They are words that we often do not see or think about in the same context.

Peter had already talked about the trials and tribulations his readers were currently encountering and now he urges them to have their minds ready for anything else that they might have to confront.

“Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be serious and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” [1 Peter 1:13 HCSB]

Their hope, like our hope, is focused on the grace that Christ Jesus brings with Him when He returns. Grace, that marvelous gift of God that combined with mercy gives us what we do not deserve (salvation) and does not give us what we do deserve (punishment.)  The NT is clear that it is by our faith in God’s grace that we are saved and set apart for Him.

Then in the very next verse there is a word that seems at odds with grace.

  “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance. But as the One who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct.” [1 Peter 1:14-15 HCSB]

Obedience and grace are seldom seen together.  As Christians we often hold to the “just-as-I-am” principle of salvation. And while God does accept us just as we are, that does not mean we are to stay just as we were.

Upon being saved, we are to become “holy in all [our] conduct,” just as He is holy.  We are to become “obedient children.”

Let us never forget that our faith, while founded through faith in God’s grace, is to be an obedient faith.

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Who You Are

by TerryLema

Let us not forget who we are. That is not one of the “let us” exhortations found in the New Testament. It is one of mine. Well, it actually may be one of Peter’s, he just didn’t phrase it quite like that. He said: “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” [1 Peter 2:9-10]

When things get difficult around us, when the world is shouting at us that we are “non-essential” or that we need to shut our doors (and our mouths), we need to remember who we are.

Peter’s definition uses broad strokes, and yet each one of those holds a special meaning for believers. We are (1) chosen, (2) royal, (3) holy, (4) God’s own. (v9)

And, while we were not, we are now; while we had not, we have now. (v10)

We are God’s chosen people. Does it not amaze you that God wants us? He chose us.

We are God’s royal priesthood. We are people who serve the King of all Kings, and we share in His royalty.

We are God’s holy nation. He set us apart (unto holiness) and we strive to work out that holiness in our daily lives.

We are God’s children. We belong to Him. No one else can lay claim to us. His ownership exceeds and transcends all others.

And while we once were nothing, now we are the people of God.

And while once we did not have mercy, now we are recipients of mercy.

To top it all – let us not forget that no matter the “darkness” that is all around us now, we have been called out of that and into “His marvelous light.” We do not abide in the world’s darkness, we dwell now and forever in the Eternal Light of our LORD and Savior, Christ Jesus.

So … let us not forget who we are. His!

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