Can I Be Holy?
I am the Lord your God; consecrate
yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by
any creature that moves along the ground. Leviticus 11:44 (NIV)
In 1989, the book, written by Stephen R.
Covey, called The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People became a bestseller. According
to Covey, if we exhibit in our daily life the seven habits outlined in his
book, we could rightly describe ourselves in one word: effective
Many words can
be found in the Scriptures that we would like to say describe ourselves. But
here are just seven words that should describe God’s people: honest, patient,
kind, giving, loving, selfless, and humble. But what about holy? Perhaps
our reluctance to describe ourselves with such a word as holy is based
on some common misconceptions of its meaning. The word holy does not
mean super religious, or perfect, and neither does it mean better than someone
else. Holy simply means to be separate or set apart.
When the Bible
calls God holy, this primarily means that God is transcendentally separate. He
is so far above and beyond who we are that He would be totally unfamiliar to us
if not for the fact that He has revealed himself to us through His Word and
through Jesus Christ. To be holy is to be “other” or to be different in a
special way.
Since the
beginning, back in the Garden of Eden, humanity was created to reflect the
image of God. Part of how we reflect His image is through holiness. We are
called to live lives that are separate, set apart, consecrated, and dedicated
to God, lives that magnify and glorify God, and lives that are obedient to His Word.
Living a life of holiness, a life dedicated to obeying God’s Word, definitely
means you are living separately from the world around you. You will be living a
life in the world, but a life that is also very different from that of others
in the world.
In the book of
Leviticus God goes to great lengths to describe many different aspects of holy
living and how His people are to remain pure, clean, and righteous in an unclean
and unrighteous world. Throughout His Word, God continues to encourage His
people to pursue purity, to seek to live set apart unto God, and to be
committed to consecration—all of which will lead a person to holy living.
Now, before we
conclude, I cannot live a holy life! remember that God does not call His
people to anything He has not enabled them to accomplish. God has given us His
Word on holiness. When we show evidence of a life lived in a way that is set
apart for Him, where His character and nature can be seen in us and in our
daily life, then we could rightly describe ourselves in one word: holy.
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