The Splendor of His Holiness

The concept of God's holiness is difficult for some people to grasp and to apply in their lives. I think the problem is that we tend to associate holiness with monks and nuns who are living secluded lives and depriving themselves of many earthly pleasures. That is not at all what holiness means. Yes, its basic meaning is to be "set apart," but not in that physical sense. God's holiness is because He is totally separated from any evil, so that He doesn't ever sin or cause others to sin. At the same time, God is separated to always do what is right and good. Therefore, God's holiness compels Him to reward those who are righteous and punish those who are sinful. The splendor of His holiness is that His nature shines forth from Him, so all can see that He is so different from us. That is why we should worship Him in the splendor of His holiness as the psalmist commands. (Psalm 96:9) This amazing holiness should cause us to tremble before Him, because we know that He is always ready to punish us for our sins, while being ready to forgive those sins, if we will worship and love Him as we should, so that we confess our sins and repent of them. It is a holy fear that comes when we behold the splendor of His holiness.

God is perfect. He is complete. God lacks nothing, so He is always enjoying the best life possible. Since He never sins, He never has any negative consequences of sin. Since He always does the right thing, He receives the satisfaction of doing good. That is how God lives and how He designed for us to have the best life possible. When we worship Him in the splendor of His holiness and tremble before Him in godly fear, it should inspire us to live a life of holiness, too. We should stay as far away from evil as possible and always follow the Spirit's direction to do the right things. When we live like that, our lives will be complete and satisfying, too. Yes, I know we can't be perfect, but we can be more and more like Jesus, thus being holy. I believe if we can grasp holiness and live in it, as we worship God, we will experience the abundant life God desires for all of His children.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalms 98-101.