Be Holy!

For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.

Leviticus 11:44

Holiness. This is a word that is not even part of our vocabulary today. I can't begin to tell you the last time I used it, and I am supposed to be a pastor. In simple terms, it’s moral, social, ritual, and ceremonial purity or innocence.

When I sat down to type out the email, it had been 3 ½ years since I pulled into Mom and Dad’s driveway to let them know I had made Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior. If you read the preface to this devotional, you can probably imagine how angry and hurt and betrayed they felt. Prior to that night, my dad and I spoke multiple times a day. In fact, we had worked together for years and had a wonderful relationship. But on that day, I died to them. During those 3 ½ years they refused to see or even speak to me or Susan.

I allowed their disdain for my very existence to fuel the most bitter anger imaginable. I was seething as I began the e-mail. As the letters formed words and the words sentences, they were all filled with rage. 3 ½ years of ugliness painted my laptop’s screen. When I finished, Susan urged me not to send it. I am ashamed to admit it, but while defiantly looking her in the eyes, I hit the send button in some sort of twisted display of bravery.

From the day I began walking with the Lord, I have tried to live an obedient and holy life. Yet, within ten minutes of sending that email, I felt like a total failure. How could I claim to be a Christ-follower and spew the vitriol in the email? I mean, I read God’s Word every day, and I prayed every day, but did it really make a difference in my life and behavior?

Maybe this sounds like something you’ve done. Sure, the circumstances may have been different, but your reaction was the same. Maybe it’s losing your temper or hatred or lust or some other sin, but Scripture does have an answer for you.

And into our anger-filled or hate-filled or lust-filled lives, God declares, “Be holy, for I am holy!” Wow, that seems like an impossible demand, right? But the truth is, God’s Word gives me hope. And it should provide you with hope as well. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:22–24 that you are

. . . to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Therefore, allow Him to renew your mind. View life through the truth that God will reproduce His character of righteousness and holiness in your new self. Allow the old you, with its selfish and sinful ways, to be cast aside. And, of course, it is a daily struggle, but as each day comes and goes, another little piece of the old dies off as God is creating something new in you.

To experience functional holiness in our walk, we must accept and understand that the struggles serve a purpose. As we lean on the Lord, they serve as a proving ground for holiness. Every day, we must consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Jesus Christ (Romans 6:11). We must refuse to embrace the lie that holiness is a checklist of do’s and don’ts. It is not. It is walking through every day focused on Him and in obedience to His Word (Psalm 119:9) and merging your life onto the highway of His will as revealed in His Word.

Lord, thank You for calling me into a life of holiness. Thank You for encouraging me to understand that the call is achievable if I stay connected to Your Spirit . . . if I stay connected to Your Word . . . if I stay connected with You through prayer. Thank You for being committed to my growth and my holiness. And thank You for being in the middle of the struggle with me. May everything I say or do always bring glory to Your name. Amen!