We hear this word a lot. Holy. We know He desires to make us whole and Holy. We sing of a Holy God. But what does that mean?

To be holy is more than just avoiding sin. In both Greek and Hebrew, the word means ; sacred and set apart. When referencing God, it communicates His uniqueness, purity, and transcendence. When referencing us, it used to describe how we are belonging to God and dedicated to Him.

See, God is holy in His very nature. He doesn’t have to work towards it or be transformed. He doesn’t grow or decrease in holiness. He always has and always will be Holy. We; however, have to be transformed by The One who is. We belong to Him. Temples were often called holy places because they were dedicated to no one but God. That is how God asks us to be holy.

In Isaiah, there is a verse that cries “holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!”

Repetition shows us that something is important. The seraphim are declaring extreme extraordinary expression of God’s holiness. It’s more than just “He is good”.

It’s…

His love is prefect and pure.

He is perfectly righteous and just.

He is never made impure by sin or evil.

His mercy and power are unmatched.

He is wiser than we can fathom.

He is faithful and always will be.

His love is holy. His justice is holy. His mercy and grace are holy. And everything that flows from Him is likewise Holy. And when we belong to Him and are extensions of Him, we get to be a glimpse of His holiness. It would be easy to then feel the weight of how much we need Him… how far off we are. God is not showing us our flaws for condemnation, but for our awareness of where we need Him and our realization of who God truly is. We see in Isaiah that He washes Isaiah clean and then sends him out on mission. His holiness doesn’t just show us where we fall short, but it cleans us and commissions us and THAT is a picture of perfect grace.

His holiness is both strict and gentle. Perfectly balanced and pure. It’s the greatest reflection of His unselfish love for us.

And yet, we are sinful. Sin is more than a minor inconvenience in the presence of His perfect holiness. God WANTED to dwell among His people. It was the original design when God made Adam and Eve in the garden. Sin in its ugliness distorts His image in us. Its wages are death. It separates us from God. But He gave us a way back.

Jesus is the bridge between our brokenness and God’s holiness. I love how God did not lower His standard or change the weight of sin. Instead, He sent His son to bear its weight for us. By His blood and through the work of Holy Spirit in us, we are brought and redeemed. We are justified.

We don’t purse holiness to become worthy of His love. We recognize we are bought by Jesus in to a relationship with The One who IS holy who then transforms us as we pursue Him.

It’s restoration.

This is all so easy when everything is “easy”. But what happens when disappointment creeps in? How about sickness? What about when your spouse or kids wander and struggle? When life feels too heavy or you’re exhausted?

This all comes back to the fire. We have a choice in the fire. We can either merely experience hardship, or seek to be developed in it. Our trials don’t make us holy, it’s our choices in it that do. The choice to trust Him. The choice to praise Him. The choice to seek Him. The choice to listen to Him. Fire doesn’t magically create the value of the gold. It reveals what is already there. The goal is not to get rid of the fire, it’s to be transformed by it and to keep our faith anchored in God while the fire still rages. We don’t ignore the fire or pretend that it isn’t hot. We ask questions. We grieve. We recognize the feelings and then put them under God’s authority. What we ignore will pull us away. Our response is what matters.

Holiness is a daily surrender. It’s the way we speak. It’s the way we act in our frustration. It’s the way we use our time or spend our money. It’s the way we love even when someone is not loving us. It’s the way we praise through the tears. It’s what happens when the doors are closed and no one is watching. It’s the fruit of the spirit that shows through us because we’ve allowed Holy Spirit to transform our hearts and our actions.

And that’s the point. If we were perfect, we wouldn’t need or want Him. We get to be made holy by The one who is perfectly Holy. Even in our trials…

Under The Sun.