How can anyone be holy since we are all imperfect and sinful? If you can’t be holy, then what’s the point of trying? How can God call us to be holy, and what does it really mean?
Myths About What Holy Means
Many people’s definition of holy comes from their perspective, understanding, and experiences. Because there are millions of imperfect people, there are millions of flawed definitions of holy. If you ask most people on the street what holy is, they will tell you it is being perfect or never doing anything wrong.
However, the origin, concept, and word, holy, comes from the only perfect entity of our Father, God. The Hebrew word for holy is “qodesh” which means apartness, sacredness, separateness, and morally right. God’s people in Christ’s disciples cannot look like the world. Their faithful, unchanging, sacrificial love is nothing like the world’s definition and understanding of love; it is separate.
When we receive salvation, we are a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). However, we must learn God’s ways and surrender our old mindsets, words, and behaviors that do not mirror the heart and life of Christ. We are instructed to learn, obey, and work with Jesus to be transformed into his likeness, which means becoming holy.
How We Become Holy
Becoming holy is an ongoing lifetime process called sanctification. Sanctification is to be set apart for sacred holy use. When we ask Jesus to be the Lord of our life, we agree to surrender to his ways in complete obedience. Our commitment to Christ means we will work with him daily and grow an intimate relationship with him. As we come to know Jesus and share our hearts with him, we will know his love and long to honor him with our love and service.
Unfortunately, at our salvation, we are not instantly healed of unhealthy or sinful patterns, routines, words, or behaviors. As we study God’s word and learn his truth, we can see his guidelines to help us understand what is healthy and sinful and what consequences will be if we do not change. Many Christians want to hear that if we do our best, not what God tells us, we are still Christ’s disciples and will see him in heaven. This deception by the enemy is the opposite of God’s truth. Let’s look at what God says about holiness.
Holiness
Who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began. (2 Tim. 1:9, NRSV)
You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine. Leviticus 20:26
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but 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 1:14-16
Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. Keep my statutes and do them; I am the Lord who sanctifies you. (Lev. 20:8-9, ESV)
In our human condition, even as believers, we will never achieve holy perfection until we are in our eternal body in heaven with Christ. Jesus came down to earth to show us how to be holy in our human condition. God gave us his word, the Bible, as our instruction manual. He gives us his pure truth, how to walk it out in our lives, the consequences of choosing to live with him on earth, and what will happen if we do not choose God.
Holiness is Hard but Possible with Christ
Being a disciple of Christ is the hardest thing you will ever do. God’s ways are not the world’s ways. Walking in Christ’s love standards, morals, and boundaries will go against the world. A believer’s job is not to fight the world. Instead, we are to show the world how to love and serve God with all we are and love people as Christ loves us.
We must live out the two greatest commandments and be the beacon of Christ’s hope and salvation. If our attitudes, words, actions, and lives look no different than the world’s, how can we proclaim to be God’s children? How are we separate and morally right from sin and evil? Let’s see what God says about how our lives will look different when we live for him through Christ.
So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another. (Gal. 5:16-24, NLT)
Holiness is Not an Option
The life of Christ is the perfect picture of what it means to love God and honor him by loving people and bringing them the message and opportunity of salvation. Jesus never forced, manipulated, coerced, or threatened. Jesus shared God’s truth, hope, and salvation and left it up to people to choose.
Each of us must choose to live for Jesus and God or live for ourselves in our sinful conditions, which in reality is choosing to live for Satan. These words may seem harsh, but they are the truth. Jesus tells us we cannot serve two masters, and we must choose. Our choice will reveal whether we live with him in heaven or face an eternal hell of suffering.
When your body dies or Jesus returns for his disciples, there will be no time to change your mind or how you lived your life, even if you have professed to be a Christian. Whom you serve during your life has eternal consequences. Do not let the world or the enemy deceive you into believing there will be another outcome.
Choose life. Choose Jesus and follow him with all your heart. Work with him every day to be transformed and become holy as he is. Run into the arms of Jesus and hear him say.
"Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your LORD." (Matt. 25:23, NIV)
