Holiness

What is holiness? How do we get it? Why is it important?Can we achieve holiness on our own? Lets discuss what the Bible teaches us.

Holiness is to be like God. It says,"Be you holy as I am holy." That is found in Leviticus 11:45 and 1 Peter 1:16. In Leviticus it was God speaking to the people of Israel. In first Peter, it is Peter reminding all of us of God's calling on all of us to be like him.

it is important as "Without holiness no man can see God." This is found in Hebrews 12:14. It means that if we did not see the difference in someone, we would not come to God and if we do not show a difference in our lives, others will not come to God.

We cannot get holiness on our own because God considers even our best try with just one mistake as "filthy rags". This is found in Isaiah 64:6. To know how bad that is we must understand that when Isaiah wrote his sermon there were no feminine hygiene items as we have now. They would use rags. that would make the filthy rags the used ones. So our best is the equivalent of something we trash. How then can we get holiness?

We get holiness by seeking God and letting him work a change in us. This sounds easy. It is not. First we must recognize our need for him then we must fully surrender all aspects of our lives to him. That is to do what he wants us to do and stop doing what he wants us to stop. Some things will be easy. others we have done for so long that to not do them hurts. It gets easier with practice and time. This brings the question to mind, "How do we know if it is a God change?"

At first glance or even many looks, we might not know. Only God and the person doing the change knows if they want to change or not. The Bible does tell us that we will know others by their fruit. In this it is not talking of food but character traits and how emotions are handled. Are we someone that has love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and such that others gravitate towards or does our attitude repel others?

We all struggle with one thing or another at different times. That is why we need regular church attendance in person so we can support those who need help in an area we are strong in and they can help us with our weaknesses. If someone asks for your help it is a compliment on a skill God gave you. Do you have any comments?