Be Holy … out of reverence

Let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence.

2 Corinthians 7:1

Perfecting holiness! Whew! God said it over and over again, “I am holy; you be holy.” And He meant it. He backed up His words with His Son and His Spirit and His Word. The ways to purify ourselves are better than at our fingertips. They are in our heart.

Yes, the world pulls at our heartstrings. It is true that before God I really didn’t know better. Oh I may have lived a pretty good moral life, but holiness was not at the core of my being. Now I know better. And when temptations tug, I have the resources to escape that which contaminates body and spirit (1 Corinthians 10:13).

I am the temple of the living God (2 Corinthians 6:16). So if Jesus says: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48), perfection is within the realm of possibility. 

Out of reverence jumps off the page in bold type. It settles on down, deep down into my spirit. Perfecting holiness becomes an act of worship, for you and for me.

·      Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth (Psalm 96:9).

·      Holiness adorns your house for endless days, O LORD (Psalm 93:5).

·      Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness (Psalm 29:2).

·      And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness…it will be for those who walk in that Way…only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away (Isaiah 35:8-10).

·      Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed (Revelation 15:4).

O Lord, perfect holiness in me.

Nancy P

Be Holy … point to God

Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

Hebrews 12:14

“Humanity is like an enormous spider web, so that if you touch it anywhere, you set the whole thing trembling. As we move around this world and as we act with kindness, perhaps, or with indifference, or with hostility, toward the people we meet, we too are setting the great spider web a-tremble. The life that I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and that in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place and time my touch will be felt.”

—Frederick Buechner, Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations

I get it! Flashback to an enormous web outside the kitchen window at my grandma’s house the summer I was four. When the spider spun in one corner, the web trembled all the way to the other. Our every interaction has a subtle, or significant touch on another.

No wonder Jesus said: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34). And He didn’t stop there. He basically told them that if they loved others as He loved them, their love would point to the Father: “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (13:35).   

How do we love like Jesus did? Living in peace with all men is the place to start; but lots of folks are capable of not rocking the boat under their own steam. Pointing to Jesus takes holiness. It takes getting yourself out of the way: Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand (Philippians 2:4, MSG).

Or how about this: Our Scriptures (Proverbs 25:21-22) tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness (Romans 12:20 MSG)?

And always this: Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16)?

The Scripture is chock full of ways to live holy lives, at peace with all men, while the Spirit in you is producing the fruit of holiness in you. It’s that chrisma thing in action!

Nancy P

Be Holy … as obedient children

Don't lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn't know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, "I am holy; you be holy."

1 Peter 1:14-16 (MSG)

“We must continually remind ourselves of the purpose of life. We are not destined to happiness, nor to health, but to holiness.”

—Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, September 1

Oswald Chambers has a way of cutting to the chase. Holiness is not an option for you or for me. It is our purpose in life. God’s intent from the beginning, when He created us in His image, was that we live holy lives. Nothing has changed. Holy living distinguishes the believer of God from the unbeliever.

It is a given to me that obedience to God’s word is the secret to living a life blazing with holiness. The Israelites of old were admonished to “be holy” by following the law. While we are considered holy in Jesus, we are told to act like the children of God that we are and obey.

If you have kids, you understand the love/obedience relationship. You love your little darlings with all your heart, but you sure like them better when they do what you ask them to do. God the same. His love is unconditional. Still, it is our obedience that keeps us within the folds of His love: “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love” (John 15:10). 

So, why is the pull of the world so difficult to resist? Why do I so easily slip back into the old habits of life before God? Why do I do just what I feel like doing? If you have seen War Room, you know that the devil is a-scheming: our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12).  

A life shaped by God’s life is energetic and blazing with holiness. Why would I desire anything less? Lord pull me, shape me to Your way of living. 

   

Nancy P

Be Holy … you have an anointing

You have an anointing from the Holy One and you know the truth. The anointing you received from him remains in you…as his anointing teaches you about all things, and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as I have taught you, remain in him.

1 John 2:20, 27-28

A chrisma, the Greek word for anointing—that’s what you have to make you holy!

In Old Testament times the priests were anointed with a special mix of oil and aromatic herbs to consecrate them so they will be most holy, and whatever touches them will be holy (Exodus 30:29). We have an anointing from the Holy One Himself the moment we come into a saving relationship with Jesus. Remember what Eugene Peterson said in the introduction to Leviticus (MSG): “Holy refers to life burning with an intense purity that transforms everything it touches into itself.” Jesus, intensely pure, touched us and transformed us. We are consecrated, sanctified, holy, set apart, sacred—anointed!

And we know the truth, will always know the truth. The anointing we received is neither fleeting nor counterfeit. Christ in us means Truth in us (John 14:6). Truth gels holy living. Our problem—we aren’t always in tune with Truth/Jesus.

So Jesus promised to help us with the truth dilemma: “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26).

Add them up: we have Truth in us, the Holy Spirit to teach and remind us of all the truth Jesus taught, and godly teachers like John. In fact, the entire scope of the written Word of God can be laid open by His Spirit, to our spirits, to solidify our holiness.

As the apostle Paul tells the Ephesians, it is high time we too “no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking” (4:17). We are “made new in the attitude of our minds” as we “put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (4:24).  Truth and anointing and holiness are intrinsically intertwined.

Nancy P

Be Holy … because I, the LORD your God, am Holy

The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy, because I, the LORD your God, am holy.’”

Leviticus 19:1-2

Ladies, I love turning the pages of a new year. Looking back gives me pause to celebrate the good times of the year past; likewise, to learn from the not so good. But when I look ahead, I feel as if God has dumped a ton of white fluffy snow on the days to come, for me to make fresh tracks on. And so, since it’s the beginning—well, almost the beginning—of this year, let’s begin at the beginning of God’s principles, with holiness.

God is holy. Indeed, God is utterly pure and transcendent in His holiness. Defining holiness is pretty well impossible. The Bible dictionary online takes a stab at it as infinite perfection. In The Message introduction to Leviticus, Eugene Peterson says this: “Holy means that God is alive on God’s terms, alive in a way that exceeds our experience and imagination. Holy refers to life burning with an intense purity that transforms everything it touches into itself.”

The four living creatures around the throne of God in heaven elevate God’s holiness to the third power: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come” (Revelation 4:8). Way back when, Moses and Miriam recognized the holiness of God: “Who is like you—majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?” (Exodus 15:11).

Can you imagine what crossed Moses’ mind when God told him to tell the entire nation of Israel to “be holy”? Was it possible? Could they “live holy in a culture that didn’t have the faintest idea what holy was” (MSG Leviticus introduction)? Maybe yes, after all, they were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). Maybe no; sin got in the way, demanding obedience to the law. Could they follow it? Would they follow it?   

Is it possible for you and for me to “be holy”? The answer is a resounding yes: …you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you by your forefathers, with the precious blood of Christ… (1 Peter 1:18-19). The law, in and of itself, is not the way. Jesus, who came to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17), is.

Amen! And amen! Christ died for us so we can be holy.

Nancy P