Word of Encouragement (4/18/2020)
This morning, let us praise God for His holiness!
Holiness is another one of those words that are hard to define. But it helps to remember that there are two different aspects to the idea of holiness: metaphysical (regarding one’s being) and ethical.
Many of you are familiar with the idea of holiness as being “set apart.” This is related to the metaphysical aspect of God’s holiness. God is holy in the (absolute) sense that He is set apart from everything else. He alone is the self-existing, eternal, all-powerful Creator and everything else in heaven and earth is created by Him. We can attribute everything that distinguishes God from us to His (metaphysical) holiness (or, His transcendence). For instance, God does not simply have more knowledge; His knowledge is also qualitatively different and better than ours.
This applies to our holiness as well. While God is holy in His being, we are holy only in relation to Him: God’s holiness is metaphysical; our holiness is relational (or, positional) in nature. For us to be holy means that we are set apart from the world unto Him whose very nature is holy.
God’s holiness also has an ethical dimension. As a holy God, He is pure and just and good and righteous; there is nothing sinful or evil in His being and doing. This is why we don’t have to worry, when it comes to God, that absolute power corrupts absolutely. As omnipotence is, so is holiness essential to His divine nature, which He cannot deny.
This is also why our salvation, even though it is by God’s grace and not by our good works, does not, and cannot, lead to lawless, careless, and sinful living. A holy God saves us from sin so we can be holy as He is.
One good way to encapsulate the idea of holiness is to think of it as “heavenly-mindedness.” To be set apart from the world is more than simply being “better” than the world in our ethical behavior. To be holy is to have our center of gravity shifted to heaven. This doesn’t mean that we don’t care about the world. In fact, we can live this life “better” because we have the proper perspective of it, which we can have only when we have eternity in view.
Because God is holy, we have a sense of dread. When we come into contact with this holy God as sinners, the only response we can give is, “Woe is me! I’m undone!” But, on account of Jesus’ perfect sacrifice, we don’t need to fear God’s wrath. But God is still holy and His holiness still leaves us breathless in awe. Because of Christ, God’s holiness is not something that makes us run away from God but rather draws to Him in worship for the terrifying-yet-irresistible beauty of His holiness.
Have a blessed day!