What Is Holy?
Holy means to be set apart, perfect, and pure.
When we think about holy, we think about that is what God is (What Is the Relationship between Righteousness and Holiness?).
The laws and commandments show us God’s character, which is holy and righteous (Isn’t It Impossible to be Obedient?).
God’s laws and commandments are supposed to affect our character or our core – bringing it down to our heart level. They are to change us until we are more like Him. They are to make us holy and righteous (Getting Obedience to the Heart Level).
God looked at us and saw we would be open to Him making us holy — eventually (How Do We Benefit from Being God’s People?).
The purpose of salvation is to make us holy and righteous (Did Election Fail?).
Grace gave us access to salvation. Salvation purified us. It not only gave us unlimited opportunity to be in God’s presence, it also gives us hope in this life. No, that doesn’t mean that it will be smooth sailing. It means that it will be worth it because it makes us better — more holy (How Do We Benefit from Being God’s People).
We are on our way to being made holy, sanctified, and righteous when we realize how much we need God. Our most important need from Him is for gift of salvation (Does God Help Those Who Help Themselves?).
It is right for us to transform ourselves to be holy. We do it out of gratitude for salvation (What Is the Relationship between Righteousness and Holiness?).
If we want to be blessed, we have to live righteously. We have to be set apart and holy in order to be blessed (Blessings, not Curses).
To be clean is to be holy. To be holy is to be set apart, perfect, and pure. To be holy is to be like God. To be like God, we care about others. When we do charity, we are caring about others (What Does Charity Mean?).
The result of sanctification is being perfect — holy and righteous (How Are Disciples Supposed to Treat People?).
Why is holiness important? You want a list? We can’t serve God unless we are holy. We can’t please Him unless we are holy. We can’t be His children unless we are holy. And we really, really want to be His children. If we aren’t holy, we won’t see God when this world ends (What Is the Relationship between Righteousness and Holiness?).
It is important that we are consistently holy. We need to be holy 24/7/365. Wherever we are at. Whoever we are with. In all situations (What Is the Relationship between Righteousness and Holiness?).
- God expects us to work and to do that work honestly. He does expect us to look holy. He expects us to be holy (A Steward Gone Bad).
See Also
What Isn’t Holy?
Take lying for example. It is easy to say, “I don’t lie because I am a person of integrity.” Disciples, however, need to say, “Because my God does not lie, and I want to imitate God and become holy and righteous, I will not lie” (How Did Moses Say Goodbye?).
An idol is an object of worship in any form that takes from God the worship that is His due. By worshiping it, we are saying it is holy presence, in control of us, and worthy of our reverence (Sins against God).
Well, worldview followers probably don’t mind being called lovers of self and money. They are perfectly fine with being called disobedient to God (therefore, unholy) (How Are Disciples Humble?).
Does God say we are holy when we aren’t? Part of me wants to say yes because we are never going to be fully holy until we get to Heaven. But that isn’t right. Upon conversion, God makes us holy when we are regenerated. We have a long way to go until we are like God. But we are different than we were before conversion (Staying Strong in God during Hard Times to Build Hope).
If we aren’t on the Sanctification Road, we aren’t trying to change our character to be more like God — holy and righteous (Stewards Who Are Ready).
See Also
Being Holy
We know we need to be more holy, but we don’t know how to get there. How do we transform ourselves to increase in holiness, and thus righteousness? We become holy by being obedient. Dive into scripture to determine God’s character. Pray, pray, pray for guidance in living our lives for Him. Be obedient in what God calls us to do. Resist the opinion that we need to be perfect. Grow more dependent on Him (What Is the Relationship between Righteousness and Holiness?).
Obedience to God’s laws and commandments makes us holy. Holiness brings us righteousness (What Is the Relationship between Righteousness and Obedience?).
The Holy Spirit does give us guidance when we have to make a choice. He is there to remind us what is holy and righteous (What Does Made in His Image Mean?).
We all have consciences, but disciples have the Holy Spirit to guide us and remind us what is holy and righteous (What Does Made in His Image Mean?).
We should be holy and blameless. Paul didn’t say we would be holy and blameless (What Is Election?).
What it boiled down to is the Israelites were holy because they were clean. They were holy because they followed God’s moral code (But the Man after God’s Own Heart Was a Warrior).
We are to imitate Him (be holy like Him) (How Does Predestination Fit In?).
The defining aspect of being God’s elect is we are all to be holy (How Can We Heal This Land?).
When we get into situations, we need to think about the consequences. We need to really think about what we are doing. Most of all, we have to remain holy (What Are the Works of the Flesh?).
I like having a strategic plan. Okay, some of the things have worked out; some have to go to a different year’s operational plan. But it is a guide. The Bible is like that in a way, but not. It is our guide. It shows us how we are to work to become holy and righteous (What Is Obedience?).
What it boiled down to the Israelites were holy because they were clean. They were holy because they follow God’s moral code (Sins against God).
I had always equated the cleanness with the ceremonial cleanness. But if we consider it as being holy, that is still very relevant to us (Sins against God).
We are capable of becoming godly — and holy, sanctified, and righteous. We have to accept His gift of bringing us back to who we were meant to be (Godliness as a Virtue).
Blessedness means we have been perfected. For the disciple, perfection is holy, sanctified, and righteous (How Do Disciples Mourn?).
Let’s roost on perfection for a second. Holy means to be set apart, perfect, and pure. If we look at perfection as the act or the process of becoming, that is sanctification (Are Disciples to be Docile?).
In other words, righteousness means being right with God, being holy as He is holy. Being holy is unique to God. Righteousness is what comes out of being holy, having faith, and loving as Jesus does. Being holy produces the righteousness (How Do Disciples Crave Righteousness?).
We have to realize that God doesn’t just call us holy upon our asking Him to forgive us from our sins. This is another past, present, and future definitions of being holy. We were not holy, so upon conversion, God changes us so that we can be holy. As we navigate the Sanctification Road, we become more holy. We will have our ups and downs until we get out new bodies and are made like Him (What Is Hope in God for a Disciple of Christ?).
This is going to be a process, folks. God is going to have a lot to do in our sanctification process to change us from holy to righteous. That is going to take discipline on our part (How Do Disciples Crave Righteousness?).
If sanctify is set apart or be made holy, how do we sanctify God in our hearts? We sanctify God by reverencing Him. We fear the Lord — which we just said was the Old Testament equivalent of godliness (Godliness as a Virtue).
Discernment brings purity of heart and life. For disciples, we would define pure as without the stain of sin. But it is more than just sinlessness. It is our reflecting God’s holy and righteous character (The Fruits of Discerning the Voice of God).
Righteousness has always been the goal. God always wanted us restored to holy children of eternity (What Is the Relationship between Righteousness and Obedience).
We are to do things in moderation. This is true in all things. To me, this is all about being consistent in making sure we are living a holy life (Are We Proactive or Reactive?).
Baptism is an acknowledgment that we are no longer a slave to sin. Instead, we have become holy and regenerated because we have admitted our sins, believed in Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer, and confessed God as Sovereign Lord (What Is Baptism?).
See Also
Diving Intervention for Holiness
Jesus died so that we could be forgiven and made new creatures — those who are holy, sanctified, and righteous. We are called to be holy. Therefore, we are called to be sanctified and righteous. (What Is the Relationship between Righteousness and Sanctification?).
We can only gain salvation and be made, holy, sanctified, and righteous by accepting Jesus through faith as our personal Savior (What Is the Relationship between Righteousness and Wisdom?).
God did make us holy upon conversion. He made us spiritual beings. The problem is that we are still stuck in these sinful bodies. Our human nature is going to win sometimes, and we are going to sin. We are not going to be totally perfect — holy, sanctified, and righteous — until we are called home. There is no way perfection is going to happen in this life (The Perfection of the Church).
It is really important that Jesus reveal the character of God to us. Imitating Him is how we become holy and righteous (What Was Jesus’ Mission (Part 1)).
Jesus’ whole ministry spoke to accomplishing this work in a holy and righteous way. He never deviated from what He said and how He acted. He came to deliver us from the consequences of our sins (Fulfilling Scriptures).
The defining aspect of being God’s elect is we are all to be holy (What Is Expected of Disciples?).
God is holy, and He expects us to be the same way. We do that by being righteous. We have His moral laws to follow, which not only show us what is right, but they also show us His character. He knows whether we follow those laws or not in our hearts (Comprehending Christ’s Love).
We have to submit to God’s holy plan (Comprehending the Plan of Salvation).
We have to take an honest look at ourselves and see where we are not holy. We can only worship when we’ve gone through the steps: the identification of our sin, the submission to God for forgiveness, and the completion of doing what God tells us to do (How Does God Call His Messengers?).