You can hardly walk down the street these days without seeing the impact of the “world.” The “world” being all the stuff that influences people apart from God. On my street alone, we have people who celebrate Halloween, for example, with all sorts of decorations. Then for Christmas, some just repurpose those very same decorations by putting Christmas lights on skeletons sitting on their front porch. They are still there in May! And television…commercials alone normalize people walking around in their underwear and advertising inappropriate things that decent people would never speak of, even to their closets friends. The “world” is truly unholy. We of faith are exposed to it, bombarded with it. How are we to be holy?
The idea of holiness coveys the realm of the holy as entirely separate from the natural world, and implies goodness, righteousness, and perfection. As is written in Isaiah 5:16, “But the LORD of hosts is exalted through justice, God the Holy One is consecrated through righteousness.” We are called to be holy, and fit for relationship with God. Therefore, those who are called to come into His Presence, must also be holy. God told Moses before giving the covenant in Exodus 19:5-6, “Now if you will pay careful attention to what I say and keep my covenant, then you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples, for the earth is mine; and you will be a kingdom of priests for me, a nation set apart.” This is repeated for believers in Christ in 1 Peter 2:9 callings us a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.
We are called to be separated, sanctified to God. There are several aspects of sanctification. The first occurs at the time of our salvation. It is the setting apart of the believer for the holy work of God. Next is the cleansing and purging of all that is not of God by the Holy Spirit—which is an ongoing process! From the moment we are born again of the Spirit, we are sanctified. From God’s perspective, we belong to Him, and although we are not yet perfected, Christ’s holiness is added to our account. As Christians, we must understand that our sanctification is finished because Christ fulfilled all the Law by giving us His life as a ransom. There is nothing we can add to or take away from our sanctification position before God. We are now chosen vessels God has set apart from the world through the Messiah, for His purpose and His glory.
The final aspect of sanctification, takes place when Christ returns and we are completely delivered from our sinful nature into a resurrected incorruptible body. Until then, we are works in process working with the Holy Spirit, we offer our lives a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2). And we are encouraged to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord. Paul said it well in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “But we all with unveiled face, beholding in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.” The holy then, is truly miraculous! It transcends time and space, bringing a bit of heaven to earth—into our very hearts. No matter what we see when we walk down the street or watch on TV or otherwise, we are called, sanctified and set apart as holy unto the LORD. May we be vigilant in our walk with the LORD.
