Being Holy
Holiness should never be looked at as something we cannot attain. Peter wrote about being holy in 1Peter 1:13-17. He was quoting from Leviticus 11:44,45; 19:2; and 20:7. All of these scriptures show us God’s point of view concerning holiness.
Holiness is simply God’s nature or being like God.
Because it is his desire that we be filled with the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19), taking on the nature of God is part of the same. Being holy is part of what God expects us to do.
The problem with being holy is we are not holy by nature.
We have to do something in order to change from being human naturally. Being saved, that is calling upon Jesus for salvation (Romans 10:13) and accepting Jesus as your savior, is the place to start.
Once you have been saved you still have to do something in order to be holy.
Becoming saved and going to church does not make you a holy person.
There are many people attending churches who live their life as they want to: behind facades of prejudice, pride, selfishness, lying, cheating, and laziness. Many of these people are ministers, teachers, elders, deacons, and church leaders. They are on paid staffs or volunteer their time to help. Church is the easiest place for people to show fake Christianity. Unless you have spent time with individuals away from church activities, you really don’t know if they live holy lives or not.
The same is for you. Only those who interact with you daily know if Christ is real in you or not. Saying you are Christian does not make you a Christian. The best testimony of your Christian lifestyle comes from those who truly know you.
Older people who have been in church all their lives are usually said to be the “perfect Christian example”. Unless they show holiness toward those who really know them, the statement is not a true picture of who they are. They may have been hard on their family, deceitfully at work, and mean to most people away from church yet, treat those at church with kindness and love.
Christians in the United State will treat church people better than they do their own family, in most cases.
If we are going to be holy as God is holy we must take on the nature of God and allow the fruit of the Spirit to flow out of us.
We must get up each day and do something that moves us from our human nature to being like God’s holy nature.
This comes from Bible study, prayer, fellowship with God, and crucifying our flesh (2Cor. 7:1), combined with practicing these things openly before people everywhere, not just at church.
To learn more about living holy by looking at our study entitled Living Holy under the subject Holy.