Thoughts for another day

November 22, 2011

Today's verse: Lev. 11:44. For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: (KJV)

(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

In the Bible God asks us to be holy; for Holiness is His nature.  God is particularly concerned about His Holiness which is so sublime and beautiful that a man can never grasp it, even were it to be just the surface itself.  He asks us to be separate, as is the meaning of the term holy and He wants us to be righteous (pure) for without this, we can't see Him!

God is so holy that even the angels are found to be in fault before Him; what then of man, asks Eliphaz, the Temanite, of Job.  It is the Holiness of God that is His defining character.  His All, one might say!  And I'd like to re-iterate what I'd written on Oct. 31 this year that His other attributes flow from His Holy nature for it can't be, He is holy and not loving; it can't be, He is Holy and not merciful or He is Holy and not gracious and so on.  There's a precise thing about His Holiness that's very significant to our relationship with Him.  His Holiness makes it impossible for us to be in intimate communion in Him unless we too are holy and therefore, God who knows aforehand that we need to be with Him and in Him, urges us to be holy just as He is Holy.

Being holy isn't an option but a direction.  I say a 'direction' and not 'destination', because we can't be holy in a day.  It takes years to wash off the grime, sin leaves on our souls and even then there're stains that can't be washed off, but we need to begin.  We thank God for the blood of His Son Jesus that washes us clean and makes us white as snow and priests and kings before Him.  But it must be our endeavor to be blameless before Him for nothing would please God, other than that we're holy and pure before Him.  If we desire to be with Him eternally, it must be our URGENT STRUGGLE to be holy.  It's rather urgent for we don't know when the hour will come. Let us leave all our human pursuits, for they don't amount to much and aim to cling to this one thing:  that WE BE HOLY JUST AS HE IS HOLY.