God’s Holiness: Our Example
A few weeks ago, my four-year-old son, Oriah, came into my room to say good morning. He had dressed himself and was ready to go to his pre-school. Immediately after saying good morning to me, though, he ran back to his room, and a few minutes later came out with a new set of clothes. He was now wearing a red shirt, jeans and black socks, which is exactly what I was wearing. When I asked him why he changed his clothes, he told me that he wanted to be like me. That incident made me think about our relationship with our God.
There are many aspects of God’s character that we desire to emulate; yet I want to focus on one that I feel is paramount if we are to achieve a Messiah-like character. That is God’s holiness. It is my prayer that the next series of blog entries on God’s holiness will cause us all to desire to be like Him, for He is holy:
“ 1Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 2“Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy. “ Leviticus 19:1-2
God instructed the Children of Israel to be holy. As followers of the Messiah, our desire should be like the desire of my son who wanted to be like his father; we ought to desire to be like our Heavenly father who is Holy and has commanded us to be Holy like Him.
So then what does it mean to be holy? Scripture further clarifies this for us in the book of Leviticus:
“26‘Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine.” Lev 20:26
Thus, holiness means to be “set apart” – set apart for the Lord and not to be like the world but to be devoted to God and to walk in His precepts. In his letter to the Romans, Paul clearly instructs followers of Messiah on how to be set apart while in the world:
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Rom 12:2
Being set apart also means to be sanctified or consecrated. It is interesting to note that the word “holy” in Hebrew is kadosh, and from this, the word “consecrate” can be formed. A vital part of holiness is a willingness to be consecrated; it is a choice we make as believers:
” ‘Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God. 8 Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the LORD, who makes you holy.” Lev 20:7 & 8
As we start our series on holiness, I first want to encourage each of us to search our hearts, repent for anything unclean within us, and consecrate ourselves to God. I believe that as we do so, we will see God doing great things among us…
“5Then Joshua said to the people, “(Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.” Joshua 3:5
Blessings in Him,
Moran