Have you ever wondered whether or not you were truly holy? “‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy’ says God.” (Leviticus19:2). To ask ourselves on whether or not we are holy, we must first understand what is “Holiness”.
The Biblical word “Holy” has two meanings. The first meaning of holy is apartness” or “separateness”. That which is holy is set apart from common things. It is different, it is “other”. God is the “holy other”. He is absolutely distinct and different from anything else in creation.
The second meaning of God’s holiness refers to His purity. There is no moral blemish, no stain of wickedness within Him. He is morally excellent and ethically perfect. It is not enough to say that God is holy, we also have to say that He acts holy. In other words, we say that God is also holy in His actions.
Now God wants those He saves to be just like Him. He wants us to be holy. First, like God, this means we are to be separate, apart. We are to be different, separate from the world. This means also that we are to be pure, without blemish, without the stain of sin.
Sin is what separates us from the holiness of God. Sin is also something for us to understand before we can be holy. Sin has six different stages, and applying these stages to the first sin in the Bible, Adam & Eve, it will help us to see where we fall short on holiness.
Knowledge: they were told about the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Curiosity: they became curious about the tree and wondered what the fruit would do.
Desire: they began to want to eat the fruit of the tree.
Lust or Strong desire: they really wanted to eat the fruit.
Decision: they made the decision to eat from the tree.
Action: they took and ate the fruit from the tree
Somewhere between stages 3 & 4 Adam & Eve fell into sin.
God wants us to be holy like He is. This means we are to stop ourselves from going to stages 3 and 4 in sin. We are to avoid any situation that tempts us and causes us to fall. We are to strive to never get beyond stages 1 and 2.
As we enter the Holy season of Lent, let us reflect upon our lives and ask God’s Holy Spirit to help us identify areas that need to be purified, then can we truly say we are “Holy as God is Holy.”
The second meaning of God’s holiness refers to His purity. There is no moral blemish, no stain of wickedness within Him. He is morally excellent and ethically perfect. It is not enough to say that God is holy, we also have to say that He acts holy. In other words, we say that God is also holy in His actions.
Now God wants those He saves to be just like Him. He wants us to be holy. First, like God, this means we are to be separate, apart. We are to be different, separate from the world. This means also that we are to be pure, without blemish, without the stain of sin.
Sin is what separates us from the holiness of God. Sin is also something for us to understand before we can be holy. Sin has six different stages, and applying these stages to the first sin in the Bible, Adam & Eve, it will help us to see where we fall short on holiness.
Knowledge: they were told about the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Curiosity: they became curious about the tree and wondered what the fruit would do.
Desire: they began to want to eat the fruit of the tree.
Lust or Strong desire: they really wanted to eat the fruit.
Decision: they made the decision to eat from the tree.
Action: they took and ate the fruit from the tree
Somewhere between stages 3 & 4 Adam & Eve fell into sin.
God wants us to be holy like He is. This means we are to stop ourselves from going to stages 3 and 4 in sin. We are to avoid any situation that tempts us and causes us to fall. We are to strive to never get beyond stages 1 and 2.
As we enter the Holy season of Lent, let us reflect upon our lives and ask God’s Holy Spirit to help us identify areas that need to be purified, then can we truly say we are “Holy as God is Holy.”