The love of God is the easiest thing to talk about. How amazed we are that God loved us so much that He gave Himself for us. Despite all the talk about the love of God, there is a tendency for many to disregard one of God’s most important attribute: holiness. Mike Taylor said “God's holiness and our sinfulness are the backdrop against which God's love is seen.” In the Old and New Testament, God has implicitly stated that He is holy and unquestionably revealed in various circumstances that He is holy. During the fall of man, God paints a beautiful picture of His holiness and love. It was His holiness that served as the reason for the punishment, but His love clothed their nakedness with animal skins. Oh what a beautiful picture of Calvary. It was the holiness of God that demanded a punishment for our sins, but it was His love that provided the sacrifice. Holiness hung Christ on the cross, but love provided the blood to cover our sins. God is holy but in turn He expects us to be as well. For I am the LORD who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. (Leviticus 11:45). How can we, sinful creations expect to obtain holiness? Due to man’s original disobedience to God sin has been inherited and passed down through the generations. The Bible teaches us “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 6:23). If the Pharisees who prayed longer prayers, performed extra washings, and followed the law above and beyond what was required, then how can we expect to be holy? Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. (Exodus 31:13) Jehovah-Mekeddeshem, the Lord our Sanctifier, shows that holiness is not something we can do for ourselves, but God does within us. The word “sanctifies” means “to be clean or to set apart”. Only through His sacrifice and only through His work can we be made clean. The blood which he shed on the cross of Calvary is a cleaning agent that washes away the filth of our sins. It is important to maintain a close relationship with God, because once redemption occurs, the world will throw everything it has at us. That is the way Satan works. He wants us to disregard and ignore our personal practice of sanctification. Only God has the strength and the ability to help us overcome that. Sanctification is not a mere one-time event but an everyday achievement. Only God is able to help us with that. The practice of sanctification comes from reading and obeying His word. And you shall keep My statutes, and perform them: I am the LORD who sanctifies you. (Leviticus 20:8) The word of God is more than just joyful promises, it is also just precepts which helps to improve our everyday relationship with God and fellow man. It is often said, “We are in the world, but we are not of the world”. It is only through the practice of sanctification in which that statement can ring true in our lives. Only God can help us. He has provided the way. He has provided the work. But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth (II Thessalonians 2:13). His Spirit works within us. It helps to mold us and shape in more and more into His image each day. It prepares us to be the final product for the great reveal. God is holy. He requests that we spend each day working towards holiness and sanctification. Only He is able to that, as long as we are willing. If only we are motivated to be more like Him instead of more like the world, then and only then can we make a positive impact by not just what we say, but by having a life to back it up.
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