Holiness?

"Give the LORD - you heavenly beings - give the LORD glory due His name; worship the LORD in the splendor of His holiness." - Psalm 29:1-2

One of God's greatest characteristics is His holiness. God values His holiness. In Revelation Chapter 4, the angels are crying out to Him, "Holy, Holy, Holy, who was, and is, and is to come." God is so holy that that the angels cry Holy, Holy, Holy.

God tells us time and time again in both the Old Testament and New Testament, "Be holy for I am holy," and, "Be holy for it is I who makes you holy."

So, what exactly is holiness? What does it mean to be holy? To be holy means to be set apart in whole for Jesus Christ. People should be able to tell, by our lifestyle and our character that we belong to Jesus Christ and no other. If holiness were a symbol, it would be a wedding band. A wedding ring shows that I am married and belong to someone else, that I am set apart for that one person. As a matter of fact, the church is described as the Bride of Christ throughout the Bible.

God values holiness above anything else. To be blunt, God values His holiness more than your life. This in not Jason flying off the handle, take a look at Joshua Chapter 7, also take a look at Acts Chapter 5. God is serious about His Holiness, and He wants us to be serious about ours.

God let Israel (His chosen people) be destroyed in 722 BC and Judah in 586 BC, because they were not holy. We find out from Romans 1:17 that the righteous will live by faith; let's take a look at how God desired His people to be holy but through their disobedience, they lost their homeland:

Jeremiah 3:6-13

"During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, "Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there. 7 I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. 8 I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery. 9 Because Israel's immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood. 10 In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense," declares the LORD.

11 The LORD said to me, "Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah. 12 Go, proclaim this message toward the north:
" 'Return, faithless Israel,' declares the LORD,
'I will frown on you no longer,
for I am merciful,' declares the LORD,
'I will not be angry forever.

13 Only acknowledge your guilt—
you have rebelled against the LORD your God,
you have scattered your favors to foreign gods
under every spreading tree,
and have not obeyed me,' "
declares the LORD."

So what is God saying here? He is saying that He hates it when people who claim to be Christians with their mouths end up showing that they are not because of the way they act and where they put their allegiance. He says it would be better if you claimed that you didn't have any faith. There are too many Christians today who profess the name of Jesus and act nothing like how He commanded us to live. Many of us still live like we were never saved to begin with, but the good news is Jesus is ready to forgive us if we repent (stop doing things our way and start doing things God's way)

If you are looking for a true worship experience, strive for holiness and through that you may see God in all of His splendor.