BE HOLY

Good morning and good morning again on this fine Tuesday!

I pray that you had a great night. I did. God is so good all the time. I don't really have to remind myself of that but it is so very true. I want to remind the world, though, how awesome and holy God is!

“Who among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?
Exodus 15:11

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name. Bring 
an offering and come before him; worship the  
Lord in the splendor of his holiness.
1 Chronicles 16:29
 
Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness; 
tremble before him, all the earth.
Psalm 96:9 
 
 I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and 
be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves 
unclean by any creature that moves about on the ground. 
 I am the LORD who brought you up out of Egypt to 
be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy. 
Leviticus 11:44-45
 
Holiness. What is it? In simple terms it is doing right and good things because we love Jesus. That is what we are supposed to do. In a couple of sentences (Leviticus 11), he gives us the motive for being holy. Because He is. The call to be something is not about us, it’s about Him. We exist for Him, for His glory, for His purposes.

Colossians 3 gives us very specific rules for how to live a holy life. Also, 1 Peter 1:13-25 talks about being holy. This is an awesome character trait to try to achieve. We should be holy because we are God's children, and God is holy. Children are supposed to be like their Father. 
 
The next scriptures from the new testament tell us more about holiness.
 
 ...for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
1 Peter 1:16 
(Peter reiterated what God had written in Leviticus 11:44-45)
 
...to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4:24 
 
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
 
But now that you have been set free from sin and 
have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap 
leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
Romans 6:22

Holiness doesn't mean being "holier than thou". We don't show off our holiness because of holiness sake or to lift up ourselves. God is the only One who is perfectly holy. We are holy because God is holy and we were created in His image. We are to be like Him. Being holy sounds like a hard thing to do or to be. But in the simple terms I mentioned earlier, it sounds a lot easier to achieve: "Doing right and good things because we love Jesus." So, when we do right and good things because we love Jesus, and not to boost ourselves, we are holy. Who would have known?

Let's make holiness a goal. Because we do have to do some things and not do other things according to Colossians 3 and 1 Peter 1. Let's do it, remembering how much Jesus loves us!

Have a blessed day!

Les
 
 


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