GOD SETS US APART UNTO HIMSELF TO BE HOLY
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Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy. – Leviticus 19:2 –
God alone is holy. He reigns in majesty, splendor and holiness. All heaven reveres the One who is perfectly holy. And He has called us to be holy as He is holy.
How is this possible? How are we to live a holy life in a fallen world? Are we to live an isolated existence… apart from the darkness and evil of the day?
You are to be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine. – Leviticus 20:26
God sets us apart unto Himself because of His deep love for us. He calls us to be holy in the midst of unholiness… a high calling. Only the One who is holy can make this possible. We may live in this broken world… rife with sin, immorality and evil… yet we are not of this world. We are not of the darkness but of the light.
For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. – 1 Thessalonians 4:7
Immersed in this world, we can easily fall into to its way of thinking. Where our thoughts go our actions will follow. Society’s values can permeate our beliefs and our lives.
Consider your lifestyle… your social network… movies and television watched… books read… websites visited regularly… music chosen. Are they subtly seeping into your thoughts, changing your attitude, outlook, principles, ideals? Are they drawing you away from the ways of the kingdom?
All are either leading us toward God or away from God. We need to keep up our guard so as not to allow society’s ways to affect our spiritual walk. Its influences can slowly desensitize us. Truth gradually appears less clear… lines between good and evil less delineated… the inappropriate more acceptable.
God has one destined end for mankind – holiness! His one aim is the production of saints. God is not an eternal blessing-machine for men. He did not come to save men out of pity. He came to save men because He had created them to be holy. – Oswald Chambers
If we seek to be holy, as we are called to be by our holy God, we cannot allow ourselves to be conformed to this world. Darkness cannot coexist with light. We are not to let the evil of today’s society overtake us.
Living a holy life does not imply that we will never sin. This is not possible, for we are not perfect. Holiness is being devoted to Christ, the Holy One Himself. It is listening to His words in the Bible written for us… following the guidance of His Spirit within us… and turning away from the lures of sin and temptation. Through repentance and forgiveness, we seek to live a righteous life.
As disciples of Christ, we daily live out His kingdom values. We discover that these values we aspire to live by collide with those of the world. Yet Jesus has set us free from the power of this evil day. We are no longer pressured to live by its principles. We choose to let Him live in us and through us to make us holy.
For by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. – Hebrews 10:14
Jesus has made us perfect in God’s sight through His sacrifice. The Most High God sees us through His Son whose shed blood has made us holy. Jesus has separated us unto Himself and His kingdom. We walk His walk of sanctification… His journey toward holiness… as He molds us to become a closer reflection of Himself.
Holiness, as taught in the Scriptures, is not based upon knowledge on our part. Rather, it is based upon the resurrected Christ, indwelling us and changing us into His likeness. – A.W. Tozer
As believers, we have power from on high… power to live a holy life. We cannot ignore the Spirit’s power, attempting to be holy on our own. We will continue to miss the mark, falling far short of the holiness that only Christ can offer. Our lives are not to be driven by our emotions, our whims, our desires, our expectations. Nor are we to rationalize our wrong behaviors.
As we yield to Christ, we grow to become a truer likeness of Him. All our thoughts, our beliefs, our values, our goals are given to our loving Savior. He works in and through us to align our lives with His. We choose to obey… to turn from sin… to live rightly. We accept and live out His righteousness.
Jesus works His mighty power to bring us to holiness. He takes away our darkness, our sinfulness, our unrighteousness… and imparts to us His light, His goodness, His righteousness. Only then can we live a holy life.
† Eternal Takeaway – A holy life is a Christlike life, lived in the power of the Spirit †
