Holiness is not an optional add on. If you would see God, you must be perfectly holy. There is no wiggle room on this. There are no loopholes. There are no exceptions. The bedrock of the Christian message centers on the dilemma of how unholy people can meet with a holy God. The Law strips all our “faux-liness” away, while the Gospel makes us holy through Christ’s robes of righteousness. The word “saint” literally means “holy one”. This is who you are now. You are holy, and by the Holy Spirit, you’re enabled to be holy. The question on the table, though, is this, “How are you to go about striving after holiness?”
To paraphrase a keen Christian of yesteryear, “you are only as holy as you are humble”. At the bottom of all your desires is, in fact, a desire for holiness. You were made to be holy. Your whole life is a longing for that other world which Adam’s sin forfeited. This desire is only fulfilled by humbling yourself.
When you humble yourself you become most like God. Humility is not the sheepish and shyness we imagine it to be. Humility is admitting that you have nothing apart from what God has given you. Your being, your breath, your being reckoned righteous are all gifts from God to you.
When you kneel in the dust to honestly confess your sins you draw near to God. You admit your unholiness, and only by this humility do you receive the assurance that God numbers you amongst the holy ones. Christ on high came down low to save you, and if you stoop down low in true humility, He will raise you up into true holiness. If you want to be holy, your neck cannot be stiff, and your knees must bend.
Leave a Reply