A lot of words get put in that blank. “Cow, Smokes, Moly…” I’m guilty. We should probably
work a little harder at taming our tongue. Holiness is no joke. Holiness is often misunderstood
and I hope our study this week will shed some helpful light on the subject. We should not fear
becoming holy—we should desire it. We should not cringe before God’s holiness—we should
adore Him. We should not think holiness is unattainable—we should pursue it relentlessly.
God’s Spirit wasn’t joking when He said, “You be holy for I am holy.” Holiness is misunderstood
because we’ve had some bad examples and some partial definitions. Holiness is avoided
because we sometimes think it equals smug “self-righteousness.” The Pharisees thought they
were holy because they were separatists but they were not holy at all. They were the ones that
Jesus rebuked the most and even said, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.” True holiness
cannot be properly understood apart from love. The two are not polar opposites or even
individual and separable components of God’s person. His Word teaches that He is holy and He
is love. This means more than that He does holy things and loving acts. It means holiness and
love is His nature. He does what He does because of who He is. And, according to the Word,
He is reimaging us to be holy as He is holy. That means He is after our nature not merely our
behavior. Behavior flows from nature. Jesus said, “A good tree yields good fruit.” So, yes,
holiness has certain behaviors associated with it but the behaviors themselves do not make one
holy. A believer is made holy by the Holy Spirit and should then cooperate with Him to become
what he/she is! We are called to this…let’s stay after it!