Who Wants To Be Holy?

1Pe 1:15-16  But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."  NIV

What does the Bible mean by "holy"? Well, going back to the original languages we find the concepts of pure and also devoted. After that it also developed to convey being separated.

Such meanings show why "holy" is a very suitable word to have associated with God.

We certainly don't understand everything about God, but there are some things we should be able to understand. Since it is not reasonable to think that the universe came from absolutely nothing, then a Creator must have created it.

Therefore God is responsible for our having a universe, and all the matter and energy in it. God is therefore responsible for our existing, and being able to be aware of ourselves, one another, and what is all around us.

I believe God should be appreciated for Creation and for us being part of that Creation.

Furthermore, since we are also able to understand that there is right and wrong, and that there should be consequences for deliberately doing wrong to others, then either that notion came from absolutely nothing and should be totally disregarded by all, or the Creator of the universe also determined that some things are right, and whatever is not what He determined is right is therefore false, or evil.

That Creator, that God, deserves our respect as well as our thanksgiving. Even more than respect, that God deserves our obedience to whatever He makes us to understand about what He wants from us.

The Bible declares that God is holy. In part that means He is pure. So when it came time to express thanksgiving and worship to God, it was essential that whatever was used in that worship also be pure.

When the objects being made for the innermost areas of the tabernacle and Temple were made, they had to be made from pure gold, or covered in pure gold.

When a sacrifice was made before God, the animal had to be free from disease or injury. God is pure, and what is offered to Him must be pure.

In time a sacrifice was made that was far more pure than any spotless lamb or other animal. Jesus, the Lamb of God, was the perfectly pure sacrifice to atone for our sins.

At that that time the curtain before the Holy of Holies in the Temple was torn from top to bottom. Soon thereafter God allowed all the gold instruments of worship and even the priesthood to be removed. Holy objects set apart for use in worshiping God were no longer needed. Even a special separated priesthood was no longer needed for proper worship of God.

But holiness is still needed. God is still holy. We can only come to God with the finished pure sacrifice of Jesus who died on our behalf for our sins. And we can only come to God as the Holy Spirit of God, living in us, enables us to come.

God created us. God provides us with what we need physically. God gives us His Holy Spirit to make His dwelling place, His home, in us.

He does not then ask us, "who wants to be holy?"

He simply tells us. Be holy because I am holy.

To be sure, we need Him to enable us to heed that command. But are we listening?

God is holy. God wants us to be holy. He wants us to be pure. He wants us to be devoted...totally devoted to Him...in all that we do.