Be Holy, for I am Holy
Holiness is not optional for us, as Christians. The Holy God saved us, and He has commanded us to be holy in all of our conduct, because He is holy. (I Peter 1:15) This has always been true in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Therefore, it is essential for us to understand what it means to be holy.
The word holy means "separate" or "set apart." When we come to the Lord, we separate ourselves from sin by repenting of our sins, once and for all, and He separates us from the world by adopting us into His family. Therefore, we become different from those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ. How are we different? The word holy means 2 things. We are not to do the wrong things any more. We are to avoid all sinful things in the power of the Spirit who lives in us after salvation. However, that is only half of being holy. We will be different because we do the right things, too. It is not enough to avoid doing wrong. We must be like Jesus, as He is holy, so we must do what He would do. Then, if we are faithful in these two things, we are like God. We are holy, because He never does wrong, and He always does right.
We will never be completely holy, and without sin. However, that must be our goal. If we do not aim to be 100% holy in all of our conduct, we will fall very short of being like Jesus. If we strive for being 100% holy, and we fall short, we may reach being holy 90% of the time or more, which would please the Lord very much.
Tomorrow, I intend to read I Peter 3-5.
The word holy means "separate" or "set apart." When we come to the Lord, we separate ourselves from sin by repenting of our sins, once and for all, and He separates us from the world by adopting us into His family. Therefore, we become different from those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ. How are we different? The word holy means 2 things. We are not to do the wrong things any more. We are to avoid all sinful things in the power of the Spirit who lives in us after salvation. However, that is only half of being holy. We will be different because we do the right things, too. It is not enough to avoid doing wrong. We must be like Jesus, as He is holy, so we must do what He would do. Then, if we are faithful in these two things, we are like God. We are holy, because He never does wrong, and He always does right.
We will never be completely holy, and without sin. However, that must be our goal. If we do not aim to be 100% holy in all of our conduct, we will fall very short of being like Jesus. If we strive for being 100% holy, and we fall short, we may reach being holy 90% of the time or more, which would please the Lord very much.
Tomorrow, I intend to read I Peter 3-5.