Pursue holiness...

I Peter 1.15-16 instructs "...as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.'"

Most of us are familiar with holiness and that it is something we are supposed to pursue in our life as Believers - yet, we are also aware of the long list of people throughout the ages who have tried to be "holy" but have seemingly failed.  Even our own pursuit of holiness has probably fallen far short of the mark.  However, we know that being holy is not impossible, or else God would not have commanded us to "be holy as He is holy."

So how do we "be holy"?

HOLINESS comes when we pursue the HOLY ONE.  The Quest for the Holy is about pursuing GOD.  He is The Holy.  When we follow hard after Him, we will absorb His nature of Holiness.  Holy is who He is.

One of the greatest messages ever written about true holiness is the book of Isaiah.  The characteristic name for God in Isaiah is "The Holy".  Isaiah 57.15 says - "Thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy;  ‘I dwell in the high and holy places, but also with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the heart of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.'"  [NKJV/ MSG/ AMP]

The message of Isaiah is at the very heart of those who live by faith in God and who are looking for the Holy.  Jesus quoted frequently from Isaiah because the book's main themes are salvation and restoration - and both of these are the work of a Holy God.  God is seen as the Saviour of His people - rescuing them again and again from captivity, and eventually sending His Beloved Servant to pay the penalty of the sins of us all.  This Holy and Just One freely offers pardon to all who turn to Him in repentance and faith in Him.

In the book of Isaiah, we not only come to a fuller understanding of true holiness, but the future Kingdom of God - the Kingdom of the Holy­ - is also revealed and made alive within us.

The more time we spend in the Word of the Holy One, the more the word "holy" changes in our understanding.  "Holy" is not a prescribed set of rituals that we follow. 

Holy is a lifestyle immersed in God and in His ways.  He has revealed Himself, revealed His character and nature in His Word.  The more we look into His Word and ponder who He is and what He does, the more we will understand and emulate His holiness.  His Word, embedded in our heart, will turn "holy" from a mere pious-sounding word into something blazing and charged with energy.

Holiness is the most intense experience we will ever know of life in its fullest sense - not life seen from a distance, but firsthand, real, authentic experience of life to the ultimate.  It is an opportunity to get in on the operations of God Himself, no longer just talking or reading about them.  Holiness is a furnace that changes and transforms the individuals who enter it. 

The Scriptures tell us that the Lord is like a refiner's fire.  He refines and purifies the hearts of His people as gold and silver are refined. 

Our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12.29).  He doesn't burn us up. Yet, if we will yield every part of ourselves to Him, His holiness will purge and purify us of every impurity and bring us forth blazing in His glory.

When the Lord brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, they saw Him as the consuming fire.  The mountain of Sinai smoked, rumbled and blazed with the fire of His presence.  Almighty God was in their midst, yet they were terrified of Him and begged that He not speak to them any more. 

But in Hebrews 12, the Lord tells us that this is not our experience at all.  We have not come to such a physical mountain as the children of Israel did. -You and I have come to Mount Zion, the city of the Living God.  The heavenly Jerusalem is populated by throngs of angels and the assembly of God's firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.  We have come to God Himself, who is the Judge of all people, and to the spirits of the redeemed in heaven who have now been made perfect.  We have come to Jesus, the mediator of the New Covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks of mercy - a better and more gracious message than the blood of Abel which cried out for vengeance.  Let us therefore not refuse or turn a deaf ear to His gracious words.-

When God spoke from Mount Sinai, His voice shook the earth.  But now He makes another promise.  This time - He has told us very plainly - He will also rock the heavens: "Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also."

"One last shaking" means a thorough housecleaning, getting rid of all the historical and religious junk so that the unshakable essentials stand clear and uncluttered.

We have an unshakable kingdom.  And how thankful we should be to have it!   Not only thankful, but also over-flowing with worship - ­­deeply reverent and in awe before God.  He is not standing at a distance, indifferent to all that is going on.  He is actively cleaning house, torching all that needs to burn - and He won't stop until it is all cleansed.  God Himself is fire. [Heb. 12.18-29 NKJV/AMP/MSG]

Let us not make the mistake of running from the Holy One as those at Mount Sinai.  Instead, let us run to Him with blazing desire - pursuing holiness.

Don't allow the sins of the past, or even the sins of the present keep you back from a life of holiness.  Run to the mercy of God and let His Blood cleanse you and make you holy.

Our sins and failures try to separate us from communion with God.  But when we actively pursue His presence and run to Him when we fail, His holiness kills the distance between us and purges out the dross from our life.

The fire of His holiness is not fierce toward us, but it is intensely destructive toward the impurities and contaminants that try to attach to our life.

If we will consistently yield our heart and our life to the holiness of God, we will live a far freer life than we could have ever imagined.  His holiness lifts us up to a higher life.  [Isaiah 58.14]

Isaiah 6.1-3 records - "I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple... and one [seraphim] cried to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!'" 

The foundations trembled at the sound of the angel voices, and the whole house was filled with smoke.

"Then I said, ‘My destruction is sealed, for I am a sinful man and a member of a sinful race.  Yet, I have seen the King, the Lord Almighty!'  Then one of the seraphim flew over to the altar, and he picked up a burning coal with a pair of tongs.  He touched my lips with it and said, ‘See, this coal has touched your lips.  Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.'" (vv. 4-7 MSG/NLT)

When we dwell in the presence of the Lord, we will continually encounter His holiness - because Holy is who He is.  The presence of His holiness will in turn bring to light our lack of holiness - just as the preceding account recorded that Isaiah experienced.  However, the very same holiness of God that reveals our lack of holiness, is what will purge and purify us if we will but remain immersed in it.  As we make our home in the presence and holiness of God, He will touch the coal to our lips that brings cleansing from all guilt and forgiveness of sins.

It was once very prevalent for people to bleach their linens by hanging them in the bright sunshine. The cleansing properties in the Sun's rays would purify the fabric from germs and their clothing would turn out brilliantly whiter than any other method could achieve.

When you and I position ourselves before the holiness of God, the Light of His Glory will, in like manner, make our lives to shine pure white - holy as He is holy.

Isaiah 1.18 says that though our sins are red like crimson, they shall be as wool - though they be like scarlet, they shall be whiter than snow.   If we will let it, God's holiness will cleanse and purify us from every fault until we glow like the whiteness of freshly fallen snow.  His holiness will restore innocence for our guilt, purity for our defilement, and righteousness for our shame.

Yes, we should desire and pursue to be holy as God is holy - But we must remember that Holiness comes by pursuing the Holy One.