How can I live up to God’s moral standards?
“I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” – Leviticus 11:45
Holiness means “set apart” and happens when God takes ordinary objects and claims the for his purpose.
Think of a toothbrush. The moment you put a toothbrush into your mouth for the first time, you become protective of anyone else using it.
Holiness happens when God proclaims, not when a person performs. Our holiness is God’s gift to us, not our gift to him. Holiness is received, not achieved.
God reminds the Israelites in Leviticus 11:45 that He chose them. “I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”
God asks for the same response of holiness of us as he did the Israelites (see 1 Peter 2:9; 2 Timothy 1:9; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Revelation 20:6).
Our practice of holiness is a result of God’s proclamation of holiness, not the other way around. It’s only when God’s declaration of our holiness—our set-apartness—sinks into our souls that our actions are transformed to align with his character and nature.
When we wrestle with holiness, it’s not because we really believe what the world has to offer is better. It’s because we don’t believe that either the presence or the proclamation of God is reality. In other words, we don’t believe that God is present now or because we don’t believe he’ll show up later.
You don’t become holy through religious rites. You don’t develop holiness through sheer discipline. You become holy the millisecond God places his hand on you and says “Mine.”
