Just how holy is holy? It would seem that most people equate holiness with a life lived at a certain level of religious practices. There are a great many dos and don’ts, that help us determine just how religious, or holy someone is. Most items on these lists, as well as the degree of adherence to them are based on man’s thoughts and logic. Then there are the BIBLE rules of holiness. It is amazing that we can have debates as to what rules to follow, and what things to avoid so as to be holy.
What about those lists? There is the big ten right off. Let’s see if I can remember them. 1) Don’t Kill; 2) Don’t Steal; 3) Don’t Lie; 4) Don’t have fun… Well, maybe not that, but I don’t remember all of them. It seems that a good many people base their holiness on that list of ten commandments, yet most people cannot even quote at least half of them. Then there is man’s logic. 1) First take the three I listed above, then add the abstaining from: Drinking, Smoking, Dancing, and Cussing. There are way more, but for the sake of brevity, I will shorten the list.
Let’s look at this list: 1) Cussing. What determines what is a cuss word? The greatest example I can think of is, Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain. At what point in or daily verbiage (Conversations / Texting / Facebook updates) do we take his name in vain? I will not even type the letters of the most common and offensive form used by vile persons. But don’t we just water the same phrase down for our personal use? Like Gosh Darn? Or Oh My Goodness? You translate this: OMG. I don’t know about you, but the words were loud and clear inside my head. I could go on a rant about the many different words we classify as cuss words, and yet we say it another way, and now its ok. 2) Dancing. Really? 3&4) Smoking and drinking goes together. But what about eating? Dang, that hurt my toes! Ooops, there I go again!
Think with me one moment. What does the Bible tell us about being holy? 1 Peter 1:15 But as he which has called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of living. So the standard is not the ten commandments, or man’s list of rules. Our standard of holiness is the holiness of the Lord. The word holy means to be separated unto something, and thereby separated from something else. It was said of Jesus that he was separate from sinners, yet we see him with them all through his ministry. The explanation for this is that he is totally separated unto God, because he is God. So what he is, is what we are to be separated unto as well. Let’s look at some of these things. God is Love. God is Life. God is Light. God is truth. Now, with just these four things, imagine if you made it your passion to be separated unto them. Then imagine what you would be like when you are around worldly people. If these things were your passion, could you steal from them, cuss at them, or hurt them in any way? Wouldn’t you want them to escape God’s judgment of all unbelievers? Wouldn’t you want them to understand God’s plan of salvation, to see the light?
There are the people we have met, or will meet in the future that are “Holy People”. I remember one man who visited Jacksonville, and attended our meeting for a short time. He was all about living for the Lord. He wanted everybody he met to know his savior. I remember being a little embarrassed as he stopped to talk to every person we passed. He shared the gospel with them with such genuine concern for their souls. I remember well that man, and I compared myself to him. I have wasted a lot of years trying to reason why the way I do things is ok, that it is ok that I am not like that man. That I am holy too. But I realize, the difference was his passion and mine were focused on different things. I truly believe that he saw things through God’s eyes, not his.
Psalms 126:5 Those who sow in tears Shall reap in joy.
Psalms 126:6 He who continually goes forth weeping, Bearing seed for sowing, Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, Bringing his sheaves [with him].
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