Becoming Holy?

The wallpaper on my laptop has a sunset scene with the words, “Be still and know that I am God.” The verse for today on my Bible program says:

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1)

A few weeks ago I ‘googled’ holy and one thesaurus had 109 synonyms and antonyms for this word. Another had 304. A dictionary of Bible words says holiness is the quintessential characteristic of God. “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.” (1 Samuel 2:2) It adds, that something or someone becomes holy when  withdrawn from common use for divine use — thus the idea of setting apart. To remove something from the realm of the holy is to “profane” or “make [it] common.” 

In other words, a holy person is more like God — in whose image we were created. This image is marred by sin, but by faith in Christ and the astonishing power of the Holy Spirit, those who belong to Jesus are promised great changes. These mentioned in the above verse are reminders to me of what holiness generally looks like. The NT says this:

What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:16–18)

This is a reality, yet who is there yet? Obviously, as the verse says, there is cleansing to be done and that holiness or being set apart for God is one of those ‘now and not yet’ aspects of being a Christian. I’ve yet to experience the fullness of “bringing holiness to completion.”

In today’s reading, John Piper illustrates holiness in action using the life of John Owen, a theologian who lived in the 1600s. He served politically as Oliver Cromwell’s chaplain and frequent speaker to Parliament, denominationally as the point man for all the controversies between Congregational and Presbyterian Puritans, theologically as the foremost Puritan defender of Calvinistic truth, academically as dean and vice chancellor in the University of Oxford, pastorally serving churches in and around London almost all his adult life, even when it was illegal to gather, and personally with a family of eleven children, ten of whom died while young, followed by the eleventh when she was a young adult. He also authored several books that have influenced many. 

In all this activity and tragedy, Owen’s passion was not public performance, but personal holiness. He said, “My heart’s desire unto God, and the chief design of my life … are that … universal holiness may be promoted in my own and in the hearts and ways of others.”

This man also said, “What better preparation can there be for [our future enjoyment of the glory of Christ] than in a constant previous contemplation of that glory in the revelation that is made in the Gospel.”

Owen and the Word of God challenge me. No idols, meaning nothing is more important than the worship and contemplation of Jesus Christ, honoring Him in all activities of my life, as insignificant as they are compared to what this man did. His life, as he said, was not about a list of what he did but about the depth of his love and devotion to the Lord.

PRAY: Jesus, when I quilt, I am motivated by seeing excellent examples made by others. When I see Christians like BT who is physically a mess yet always joyful, I stop complaining about my small aches and pains. When You show me saints like John Owen (and John Piper too) I realize ‘completed holiness’ is the goal in life to aim for, and the method is having a constant focus on You and Your glory. Make that more real in each of my days. I know it cannot happen apart from Your amazing grace.