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 (1 Samuel 2:2) It adds, that something or someone becomes holy when  withdrawn from common use for divine use — thus the idea of setting apart.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.

Holiness and grief

Earl Grollman, a rabbi and grief counselor, says penetrating  things about grief. For instance, "Grief is not a disorder, a disease or a sign of weakness. It is an emotional, physical and spiritual necessity, the price you pay for love. The only cure for grief is to grieve.”

I know that grief visits when least expected, but if I shut the door on grief, it will only come calling again and again. Letting it in, feeling it, expressing it, or letting happen whatever it brings is the only way to satisfy its painful demands. Grief is relentless and without it, our broken hearts cannot be healed.
Today’s reading is about holiness. Dare I compare it to grief? Certainly it is at the other end of the spectrum but both are about love. Think of it; holiness is to be like someone who loves us so much that He was willing to become like us but without sin — and die so that we could become like Him. How is that like grief? Without holiness, our broken lives cannot be healed.

Not only that, the love of God is relentless, as is grief. Jesus says this:

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20)

Grief does that too. It knocks at the door of my heart, a painful visitor yet a healer. Jesus comes to eat with me, not painful but He also is a healer. When He first came to my door, I was broken and in pain. He did more than tap on the door; He opened it and walked in. Ever since that day, whenever sin deals its awful blow, He is there, knocking, wanting in to bring repentance and healing. He persists. Like grief, He will not let me go until I welcome Him.

Today’s reading says that His commands to be holy are all based on the fact that He to whom we belong is holy. In order to be one with God, which is our final destiny, we must be like Him in character; and since He is holy, we cannot be “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4) without ourselves being holy. That is, it is because we are the Lord’s and not in order that we may become His that we are called to be holy.

“I am the Lord your God” is always the ground of His appeal. He doesn’t say, “I will be your God if you will be holy,” but He says, “Be ye holy, because I already am the Lord your God.” I have been  bought with a price. Holiness is the result. That event happened and holiness happens, just as a searing loss happens and grief follows. Grief is His sorrow, weeping with us, part of what we feel.

When Jesus saw (Mary) weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. (John 11:33–35)

Even though Jesus knew what He would do — raise Lazarus from the dead — He wept. Even though I know my lovely sister-in-Christ is gone and in heaven with Jesus, it is not a sin to weep, to grieve for sorrow. Yet this also points to the holiness set before me.

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (1 John 3:2–3)

PRAY: Jesus, my friend is now like You — and our loss is her gain. Her holiness is perfected. Grief ultimately leads me to thoughts of my own life and death. Because of You and because of grief, I am motivated to holiness even as You are holy. No one knows when You will call us home. The desire to be more like You is heightened because of the depth and sorrow felt this week. Keep knocking. The door is open.

Set apart for a reason . . .

 

A friend started a new job where she is responsible for filing literal and electronic documents in such a way that others working for the same company can find them as they need them. Her tasks are specific. She is not told to make coffee, park cars, dust the furniture, or knit sweaters, play with her dog, write a book, or surf the Internet because she is set apart to oversee the company library.

In the same way, God’s people are set apart for Him, doing what He has put us in His kingdom to do. While none of the distractions and other activities that interest us are evil things, we are called to stick to our job description, the very things that He called us to do.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9)

Besides being His priests, Christians are to proclaim His excellencies as we live here as His possession. Holiness can also be called sanctification but either term means to be set apart for God, to do His will and to become free from the power of sin. It is both a positional truth: I am set apart for God — and a progression: I am being set apart for God. He declares me holy — and He is making me holy.

He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. (Colossians 1:22)

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)

When God saved me, I became His possession, not perfect but no longer ‘employed’ by sin and the devil and busy doing my own thing. Positionally, I am totally His. Practically, I’m learning the joy of my task. I get distracted by other activities and most do not seem evil, but if they are motivated by ‘I want’ rather than the Holy Spirit, they are still part of what is called sin — and something I was not saved to do.

Holiness is not some sort of attitude that I’m better or more devoted to God and therefore above others. Sanctification is not isolation from the world nor is it a pious refusal to do the ordinary responsibilities of life. Instead, it is paying attention to God and refusing to rule my own life or let anyone else draw me away from Jesus. Jesus is the reason I live, the One who calls me to live a holy life, to be like Him rather than do my own thing. And because I am in Christ Jesus and He is my wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, I am to boast in Him and not myself. (1 Corinthians 1:30-31)

Jesus does the work. His offering to God at Calvary “perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds.’ ” (Hebrews 10:14–16) and “As he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’ ” (1 Peter 1:15–16)

He gave me Himself so I have His eternal life, but also so I can be holy in this life. The first was instant. The second takes a lifetime to perfect, and will not be 100% until I die.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are . . . . We are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (1 John 3:1–3)

PRAY: Lord, the battle against sin and particularly the sin of trying to run my own life without Your input or enablement, is a real battle. I thank You for my positional holiness in Christ. How amazing that by it I am perfect in Your sight, yet so imperfect in my own view. I also thank You for the power of the Holy Spirit that enables me to listen to You and obey You, a steep learning curve with many distractions and temptations. Thank You for promising that You will finish what You started in me.

PONDER: Ephesians 1 tells what I have in Christ. Read it again today and be grateful!