Day 7 - Holiness
Author: Ethan Leak
I think it is safe to say that many different things go through our minds upon hearing the word holy. Maybe what comes to mind is a “holier than thou” christian acquaintance who tells you that they know how to act better than you do. Maybe you think of a greasy priest who is pointing his crooked finger at you and tells you to repent. Perhaps you think of a painting of little naked babies with halos, or a painting of a muscular, bearded, old man reaching down from heaven. Maybe you even think of a scary movie, where the main character holds out a wooden cross towards a menacing fiend. Whatever comes to your mind, I invite you to think about the true holiness of God with me.
When we say that God is Holy, it means that He is the ultimate source of all things good, beautiful, powerful, and peaceful. He is perfect, and set apart from all other things. He is so perfect, in fact, that nothing unclean can enter into his presence. He is terrifyingly pure, which means that having a fear of Him is appropriate and inescapable. We don’t fear God because He is bad; we fear Him because He is so insanely good that it is incomprehensible. Even the heavenly creatures who surround His throne cry out eternally to each other about how set apart He is. (Revelation 4:8, Isaiah 6:3)
All of the good we experience is because of His holy presence in the universe. He is the catalyst behind the search for beauty; not just the obvious stuff, but even the uncommon and mundane beauty that can be found in unexpected places. He is the source of creativity; the kind that makes us drop what we are doing to try out that one crazy idea. He is the source of laughter; the unstoppable, almost pee your pants, sore afterwards kind. He is why we think to ourselves “there must be more.”
He is the source of peacefulness, and our yearning for adventure - all at the same time. More importantly than all of these things, He is the one who invented relationships. This means that with each of us, He is the most intentional being in existence. Apart from Him, we would have none of the joys of life. (Psalm 16:2) What do we take away from simply comprehending the grandeur and purity of who He is?
- Thinking about His holiness leaves us baffled, wondering why a perfect being would ever concern Himself with us like He has. This makes the person of Jesus so profound, since He offers us the chance to be clean in His presence. (John 3:16-21)
- Knowing what it means for God to be holy helps us to understand the idea of hell; how those who are in His presence experience everything that is good, while unclean things that venture far from Him experience nothing that is good.
- When we try to comprehend the nature of God, it stirs us to genuinely worship Him. We can’t help but celebrate His perfection.
We are inspired to reserve our every moment for His purposes; to give our lives to Him. He, after all, handles our lives infinitely better than any of us could.
PRAY: Lord, I pray that every day we can become more aware of Your perfection. I pray that our perspective on who You are can help steer our lives in Your direction, as we grow in adoration of who You are. When we experience pure moments of joy, we are experiencing Your beauty. Help us to strive to be holy, to prepare us for the day we come home to be with You.