God is holy! This is not a point of contention for Christians, we believe God is holy. However, as a Christians I struggle with the idea of holiness, especially when I am trying to apply it to myself. Holiness in Christian belief is always connected to the word sanctify. We are holy because as believers we have been sanctified, set apart, for God's purpose.
God is holy! I am not! I must admit I often feel like a stranger to God's holiness, always struggling, to hang on to the few gains I have made. It is never easy for me to be holy. I have a temper and at times my anger gets the best of me. I struggle to love others as I would have them love me, not very holy on my part. I admit I have spoken when I should have held my tongue, said unkind things and thought unkind thoughts. A stranger to God's holiness, I believe the phrase would fit me.
God is holy and by my own admission I am not. I struggle with my familar sins, the ones I know all too well and those who seem to know me. So I believe I am qualified to say I am a sinner, and again, a stranger to God's holiness.
Yes, God is holy! Yet even in the moments when I struggle with my unholiness, God is holy. And here is the bottom-line: because of my relationship with God through Jesus Christ, God sees me as holy. That's right, he sees even a sinner like me as holy. This is not because I have done anything on my own to merit this, it is because my relationship with Christ has changed the way I am seen by God. God sees the obedient sacrifice of his Son on the Cross, and because of his sacrifice, my sins are forgiven. I may view myself as a stranger to God's holiness but God sees me as his holy child. Because I am a child of God I am called to be holy and I believe God will continue to strengthen me for this call.
So let me find hope and encouragement in the words of 1 Peter 1:15, But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do. For it is written: "Be holy for I am holy."
RefRev
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