The Beauty of Holiness by Sylvia Britton

Dear friend Sylvia - you wrote this and I just had to copy ALL and paste today. May we all strive with God's will and His spirit within us for Holiness. And may we understand the true meaning of Holiness and why we are Christ followers in the first place. God Bless you this New DAY, the first on this year 2010. Sylvia writes:

“Holiness, not happiness, is the chief end of man.” Oswald Chambers

“No attribute of God is more dreadful to sinners than His holiness.“ Mathew Henry

“…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 1:15-16

What is holiness? You probably already have some definition in mind. Definitions of holiness run the whole gamut from the hermit in a hair shirt, hidden in a remote cave, to a skirt wearing, bun capped dour woman, to those who refuse to apologize for wrongs because they don’t believe they are capable of sin all the way to legalism where there is a long list of things we must not wear, eat, drink, watch or touch. None of these things really defines true holiness.

Holiness is such a deep and multifaceted topic that I don’t anticipate being able to give it justice in a devotional. So for now, I hope to whet your appetite for more on the topic of holiness. I do heartily recommend that you begin a Bible study on holiness. The book The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges and the writings of A.W. Pink are good resources for further reading and contemplation.

In its purest form, holiness is complete moral purity. This is something that no human being has achieved or can ever achieve. So why do we continue to search after it? We continue to search because though God has made us righteous in Christ, He calls us to righteousness in our character. God has set the desire for holiness in the hearts of all His people. “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness” Isaiah 61:10.

The journey to personal holiness begins with a right view of God’s holiness.

God’s holiness is perfect. And our holy God is so holy that He is not even tempted to sin, nor will He ever tempt us to sin (James 1:13). God hates sin. Every time we sin either in word, thought or deed, we are doing something that God hates. (Psalm 119:104; Habakkuk 1:13)

Our God is a three-times holy God. So holy that Holy cannot adequately describe Him. Scripture uses the phrase “Holy, Holy, Holy” to describe God (Revelation 4:8; Isaiah 6:3). Until we begin to understand the holiness of God, we will falter in our growth toward holiness. The only way to understand His holiness is to grow closer to Him through reading His Word and prayer.

The journey to holiness continues with a right view of sin and a right view of God. One of the biggest roadblocks to living a holy life is our refusal to take sin seriously. In our minds we have divided sin into categories of serious sin and not-so-serious sin. We sometimes think of sins as “mistakes” instead of ascribing to those mistakes the moral weight they deserve in God’s eyes. We do this as if calling those sins mistakes they are not so bad and God will not judge them to be sinful. God does not categorize sin in that way. All sin separates us from fellowship with God. God hates all sin, not just some sin.

The holiness that we are called to, is what Jerry Bridges calls a “joint venture” between God and ourselves. Unlike the holiness He gives us that makes us fit for His salvation, it is not something that He will bestow on us without our effort.

There are two kinds of holiness; that which God gives and that which God calls us to. That holiness to which we are called is as dependent on our effort as anything we will ever do in life. God provides us with the impetus to live a holy life, the strength to live it and the arsenal to defeat sin in our lives, which includes the presence of His Holy Spirit.

So far we have established in this short devotional that;
·Holiness is perfect moral purity
·Sin is when we fall short of perfect moral purity in any way
·God is perfectly holy
·God hates sin
·God requires holiness in our character and daily lives.
·When we sin, God hates that sin
·There are two types of holiness; that which God gives us at salvation and that which He calls us to in our daily living.

Finally, the journey to holiness includes the daily living out of the life of Christ.

We are no longer slaves to sin, it no longer reigns in us, and we can defeat it. According to Jerry Bridges, God gives us the potential to resist sin; the responsibility for resisting though is up to us. There is no such thing though as instant holiness. Holiness is a continual journey, a constant battle and, as Jay Adams says. “It is by willing, prayerful and persistent obedience to the requirements of the Scriptures that godly patterns are developed and come to be apart of us.”

Have you stopped to wonder about why God saved you in the first place? So that you could have a great life? A place in heaven? There is a reason:

“God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him.” Ephesians 1:4 .

We were saved to be holy. Dear sisters, it is time for us to lay aside all those sins that beset us, to get serious about serving God and realize that our time here is but a moment, a blink, in eternity. To realize that God requires us to live holy lives and that He Himself will work with us to lead us into a holy life.

Holiness should concern us deeply and holy living should be foremost on our minds every day. It should disturb us and at the same time encourage us to obedience to read:
“Make every effort to ….. be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:14.

A.W. Pink describes the true faith in God through Christ as “…a faith which purifieth the heart.” (Titus 1:1) one which grieves over all impurity (Acts 15:9) and one which produces an unquestioning obedience (Heb. 11:8). Is your faith leading you in that direction?

The journey to holiness consists of a pattern of living life;
· Hearing the Word taught (Jeremiah 3:15) Go to church, listen to sermons and learn in Sunday School.
· Reading the Bible (Deuteronomy 17:19) You are blessed to live in a culture where the Bible is available to everyone. Read it daily, prayerfully.
· Studying scripture (Proverbs 2:1-5) A good study doesn’t have to be costly. Use your Sunday School material or ask your church’s pastor or Sunday School director for suggestions.
· Memorizing the Word (Psalm 119:11) Challenge yourself to memorize God’s Word. We sometimes forget that memorization isn’t only for children.

I would add one more thing to Dr. Pink’s list. Prayer and relationship with God. You cannot help but be changed if you are daily in His presence.

Ask the Lord to open your heart to His Word and His Truth that Holy Living is not optional for the Christian. Ask Him to show you the things in your life that are keeping you from living out the holy life a Christian is meant to live. What is keeping you from living a holy life?
Here are some scripture references to get you started on the journey to finding out more about holiness:

Ephesians 4:30
2 Timothy 2:21
1 John 1:6
Psalm 119:104
1 John 5:3
James 1:22
Galatians 5:16
Philippians 2:12

As a friend of mine commented, holiness is more about being than doing. My hope is that the women reading this will be encouraged and challenged to find out more about holiness and how to be holy. My fervent prayer is each one reading will begin to talk to God about holiness and ask Him to open His Word regarding personal holiness.

Remember that the journey to holiness only ends in heaven in the presence of God when we are changed into His likeness, but that His will for us is to continually strive toward holiness and remain faithful in our walk with Him.

Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. Psalm 29:2"

Thank you Sylvia! So this isn't just for women, but men. I pray the "holiness to which we are called is as dependent on our effort as anything we will ever do in life." - that this will be my and your 2010 manifesto as a Christian and any person willing to repent of all their sin and turn toward the true God for their salvation in Christ, to become a new person, shedding all their self each day to be renewed by his spirit. Amen