For What it’s Worth…

It’s impossible to do justice to such a significant topic in a limited space, but we can think of God’s holiness as being both his unique ‘otherness’ in terms of power, authority and glory, and also his perfect purity. There is none like our God! Because of God’s holiness, the New Testament urges Christians also to be holy, (ie 1 Peter 1:15), that is to be ‘separate’ in the sense of distinctive, and pure.

In his letter to Titus, pastor of the church in Crete, The Apostle Paul identifies God’s desire for holiness among his people as the reason for Christ’s life, death and resurrection, “to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good” Titus 2:14.

We might think that holiness is the domain of monks, priests, ascetics and hermits. Perhaps holiness seems to be the calling of people who withdraw from life in the world and so such people should invest in increasing their holiness, but the rest of us need not bother. In fact nothing could be further from the truth. In his book, Possessed by God, David Peterson comments, “No Christian should doubt the need to give practical, everyday expression to the holiness that is our status and calling in Christ.”
(More about Possessed by God – Moore Books, Amazon, Koorong, Christianbook.com, Word)
See below for further reading

I would suggest it’s comparatively easy to grow in holiness if you’re sequestered away from modern society, in a monk’s cell or a hermit’s cave. What takes a more disciplined mind and heart is the pursuit of holiness in what Nobel Prize winning novelist William Golding called the “ordinary universe” the everyday actions and events in life; getting dressed in the morning, conversations with work colleagues, picking children up from school, going to the shops, finding a car park, waiting in line at the bank, eating a meal with the family.

Titus 2:1-15 gives a picture of what holiness looked like for a number of different groups in the Cretan church, how they were to live “in accordance with the sound doctrine” of the gospel of Jesus (2:1). What they knew and had been taught was to shape the way they lived. The ultimate outcome of this, is that they would “make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive” (Titus 2:10). Their behaviour complemented the message of the good news. The gospel still stands, regardless of our behaviour. It is not rendered untrue or ineffective by our disobedience. But in our obedience and purity, we “adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour” as the King James Version translators put it.

Has your holiness and purity “adorned” the great news of Jesus in the eyes of your neighbours this week? In the eyes of your work colleagues? Your family? The check-out operator at Coles?
You don’t need to answer that! But we do need to remember our holiness cost the life of God’s own son. Let’s not waste it!

Some ideas for further reading on holiness
The Key to Holiness, Charles Spurgeon, Amazon, Word
Holiness, J C Ryle – Koorong, Amazon, Christianbook.com
The Pursuit of Holiness, Jerry Bridges – Koorong, Word
The Discipline of Grace, Jerry Bridges – Koorong, Amazon, Word
A Sinner’s Guide to Holiness, John Chapman – Matthias Media, Koorong, The Good Book Company
Possessed by God, David Peterson – Moore Books, Amazon, Koorong, Christianbook.com, Word