In our redo for godliness, it is important that we become holy as God is. But what is holiness as an attribute? This daily devotional looks at God’s holiness as our standard.
Nuggets
- We see God’s holiness through His laws and worship.
- It doesn’t work when we try to bring God down to our unholiness.
- God desires us to have His character.
To read devotions in the Redo for Godliness series, click the appropriate button below.
Devotions in the Finding Our Center series
If knowing God is how we find our center, it is important that we get a good handle on God’s holiness. But that isn’t as easy as it sounds.
It is difficult to parse holiness out from God’s other attributes. MacArthur wrote, “Of all the attributes of God, holiness is the one that most uniquely describes Him and in reality is a summation of all His other attributes.”
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Let’s dig in.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
Let's Put It into Context #2
Holy means to be set apart, perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues. Holiness is more than a character trait; it is purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart. Purity means possessing God’s moral character, having eliminated the stain of sin.
The perfected state indicates the combination of the spiritual graces which, when all are present, form spiritual wholeness or completeness. It means we have become as Jesus is. It means we have become holy, sanctified, and righteous. Christian perfection is achieving the two greatest commandments.
A couple of devotions ago, we said that Piper said the glory of God was demonstrated in the beauty of His holiness. Glory is worshipful praise, honor, and thanksgiving.
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Understanding How God’s Character Is Holy
“And one called to another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies; his glory fills the whole earth” (Isa. 6: 3 CSB)
We see God’s holiness through His laws and worship.
We know the law was given to us to show us God’s character. The law shows us He is holy, just, and good. But what does that mean?
If the laws show us holiness and the laws tell how we are expected not to sin, holiness means we are free from the stain of sin. God’s character is, therefore, pure and holy because He does not sin.
The Essex Congregational Remembrancer wrote, “Holiness is the glory of God’s nature, and that which entitles Him to the supreme love, confidence, and worship of all His creatures.”
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Let’s try some substitution. Being pure and set apart is the outward expression of God’s character that makes Him Sovereign God.
Hmmm. That doesn’t really work for me. I was heading more toward holiness being the inner expression and glory being the outward expression of God’s character. I can see, though, where we are to be the outward expression of God’s holiness because we were made to worship Him.
I see glory as the product of the adoration created when we praise God and give Him honor. There is more to His glory than that, but that is a part.
Burder reminded us that holiness flows from God. He also wrote, “But the holiness of God is not derived; it was eternally, originally and unchangeably in Him.” See, to me, that isn’t outward expression. I see that as inward.
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God’s holiness is most evident on the cross. It is a display of His holiness fighting against sin.
When God created us, we were holy. We aren’t when we sin. Denham gave us several examples of judgment for sin.
- Satan’s fall
- The original sin
- The flood
- Jesus’ crucifixion
I am trying to figure out what Denham was trying to say. In Elaine-speak, we haven’t seen everything yet in terms of God’s displeasure against sin. I can agree with that. We haven’t had judgment day yet.
God can’t show us all of His holiness yet because this life is a trial for the next life. We aren’t in our perfected state yet. That goes along with God can’t and won’t reveal everything to us.
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Still, God will reveal to us what we need to know about His holiness.
God Is Holy, But Sometimes, We Don’t Want Him to Be
“There is no one holy like the Lord. There is no one besides you! And there is no rock like our God” (I Sam. 2: 2 CSB)
It doesn’t work when we try to bring God down to our unholiness.
First Samuel 2: 2 is part of Hannah’s prayer when she was presenting Samuel to the Lord. Remember, we had talked about her prayer to God that she be granted a son.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Hannah expressed her belief that God is the only one free from sin. Mankind, on the other hand, is riddled with sin.
Blaikie believed that mankind tries to transfer our failings to God. We try to bring Him down to our level instead of become holy like Him.
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I can see that. We don’t want to have our failures pointed out. So, instead, we try to make God as unholy as we are.
Doesn’t. Work. That. Way.
In reality, Blaikie said we should be comforted by God’s holiness. God is in control of all the things we can’t control. Who better to be in control than someone Who is blameless?
Our Standard of Holiness
“for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy” (I Pet. 1: 16 CSB)
God desires us to have His character.
Rogers reminded us that God doesn’t have an on/off switch. He doesn’t turn His holiness on and off. Instead, Thomas told us that we are to possess all the virtues to be considered holy.
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God doesn’t want us to be an on again/off again disciple. He wants us to be faithful to Him 24/7/365.
Candlish gave us a great list of what being holy isn’t.
- Innocent (as in ignorant of evil)
- Imposed abstinence from evil
- Extreme self-restraint, self-denial, and self-mortification.
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God wants us to focus on the positive. “For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness” (Heb. 12: 10 NLT).
Remember, God told me, “Well, Chick, you can’t do self-discipline without Me.”
Also, remember I thought He was going to have me work on this sin, that sin, and the other sin. Instead, He wanted me to work on maturing my faith.
To read a related devotion, click the appropriate button below.
God wants us to focus on Him, not ourselves. Yes, He will discipline us when needed.
But God wants our eyes on Him. He wants us to open the eyes of our hearts so we can see His holiness and imitate Him. He wants us to get it to the heart level, as Jones said, so we can make the necessary changes. Then it broadens it into our lives.
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I thought it was interesting that Beddome said that there was stages and degrees of holiness. I can see that. That tells me that there are stages and degrees on the Sanctification Road.
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Selby addressed being set apart. He wrote, “A ‘holy thing’ is a thing that has been withdrawn from common uses and reserved for specific religious ends. A ‘holy man’ is one upon whom there has been laid an authoritative interdict irrevocably separating him from the pursuits of common life, and binding him to the Divine service.”
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In order to be holy like God, we no longer put our focus on this life. Instead, we focus on serving God. His focus is always on our moral health — i.e., our spiritual condition.
Making the Connections
Bunting said something that got me thinking. He wrote, “The great peculiarity of the government of Jehovah the Saviour in this respect is, that He requires men to be holy and not merely to be moral.”
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That was echoed by Driver. He wrote that holiness was specifically freedom from moral imperfection. Finney called it a moral adjustment from the imperfect to the perfect.
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God doesn’t want us to just be moral people. He wants us to be morally pure.
In our Moralities Lead to Godliness series, we said that we have to kick the worldly morals up to spiritual graces. Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
Devotions in the Moralities Lead to Godliness series
I am reading the progression to be worldly morals to spiritual graces to holiness.
Jones cautioned us that “… Be holy, because I am holy” (I Pet. 1: 16 CSB) is to be our standard. That is another argument for kicking worldly morals up to spiritual graces.
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How Do We Apply This?
We benefit from God revealing His holiness to us. That also helps us to apply it to our lives.
- It should make us more humble.
- It should give us silence in our souls.
- We should genuinely want to pursue holiness through the navigation of the Sanctification Road.
- That should help others see the work of God in us.
- We should not just not sin — we should hate sin. That is called mortify sin.
- We want to imitate God’s holiness so we can be like Him and serve Him. This is how we please Him.
- Duncan wrote that we gain holiness through exhortation and prayer.
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God calls us to be holy as He is. He will guide us in our learning to be so.
Father God. We want to be like You. We want to be holy and morally pure. Help us to be so. Amen.
What do you think?
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