Pin It Now!
I am the LORD, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy. Leviticus 11:45
In order to follow this commandment we need to clearly understand what holiness means.
What does it mean that the Lord our God is Holy? Holiness is the absence of even a trace of sin. Holiness is the devoid of even a glimpse of darkness. Holiness is the perfection of all things good - perfect love, perfect mercy, perfect forgiveness, perfect deliverance, perfect healing - that our God alone can offer.
I always find it interesting how people of most other belief systems take pride in sharing stories of their "gods" who do mean things to one another, who lust the women, envy their brother, cheat, lie, steal, kill, destroy, the list goes on. Clearly these "gods" are not holy and hence they cannot impose such a commandment on their followers.
On the other hand the only true and living God - the Lord God Almighty - the Maker of heaven and earth is pure and just in all His dealings. He sets the best example of being holy for us believers to follow. He insists we too can live our lives in a holy fashion. He demands we be set apart from the rest of the crowd - be known as His chosen generation, His royal priesthood, His holy nation. Praise the Lord!
Rest of the day, let us ponder over the commandment, "Be holy as I am holy" and ask the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us through.
God bless you all. Have a blessed Thursday!
Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14
I am the LORD, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy. Leviticus 11:45
In order to follow this commandment we need to clearly understand what holiness means.
What does it mean that the Lord our God is Holy? Holiness is the absence of even a trace of sin. Holiness is the devoid of even a glimpse of darkness. Holiness is the perfection of all things good - perfect love, perfect mercy, perfect forgiveness, perfect deliverance, perfect healing - that our God alone can offer.
I always find it interesting how people of most other belief systems take pride in sharing stories of their "gods" who do mean things to one another, who lust the women, envy their brother, cheat, lie, steal, kill, destroy, the list goes on. Clearly these "gods" are not holy and hence they cannot impose such a commandment on their followers.
On the other hand the only true and living God - the Lord God Almighty - the Maker of heaven and earth is pure and just in all His dealings. He sets the best example of being holy for us believers to follow. He insists we too can live our lives in a holy fashion. He demands we be set apart from the rest of the crowd - be known as His chosen generation, His royal priesthood, His holy nation. Praise the Lord!
Rest of the day, let us ponder over the commandment, "Be holy as I am holy" and ask the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us through.
God bless you all. Have a blessed Thursday!
Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14
This is a hard one. Holiness is just really difficult for me to grasp. Especially when people and circumstances push and pull me away from being anything but holy. I'm so dirty, just thinking about being holy is a somewhat abstract and impossible ideal that I will never quite achieve in this life. I guess it is the pursuit of holiness that inspires me more so than the idea of actually achieving it.