Personal Holiness
What does holiness look like in someone? I used to imagine that it was someone who wore white. I also thought it might me be someone in a high-up leadership position in the church. Over the years I’ve learned that the people I thought were holy were 100% human. I’ve also thought that holiness is an ideal level of human behavior. I’ve seen people whom I thought were holy stumble and fall on their face. I’ve also seen people who were very ordinary appear to be quite holy. I can’t really say that holiness is in the eye of the beholder, unless the beholder is The Lord. What I see when I think I see holiness is really simply good behavior. Good behavior comes from a decision to act differently. I think what the Lord is after in personal holiness is much more than good behavior.
The Israelites are still hanging out at Mt. Sinai and are getting instructions about life and living. He spends some time speaking to personal holiness. It is specific and even somewhat graphic, but clear that a person who desires holiness must follow the Lords directions and decrees. Check this out….
1 The Lord also said to Moses, 2 “Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.
11 “Do not steal.
“Do not deceive or cheat one another.
12 “Do not bring shame on the name of your God by using it to swear falsely. I am the Lord.
13 “Do not defraud or rob your neighbor.
“Do not make your hired workers wait until the next day to receive their pay.
14 “Do not insult the deaf or cause the blind to stumble. You must fear your God; I am the Lord.
15 “Do not twist justice in legal matters by favoring the poor or being partial to the rich and powerful. Always judge people fairly.
16 “Do not spread slanderous gossip among your people.
“Do not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is threatened. I am the Lord.
17 “Do not nurse hatred in your heart for any of your relatives. Confront people directly so you will not be held guilty for their sin.
18 “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.
19 “You must obey all my decrees.
37 “You must be careful to keep all of my decrees and regulations by putting them into practice. I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:1-2,11-19,37 NLT)
Personal holiness is much more about my heart than my behavior. My behavior reflects what is going on in my heart. I believe the key to personal holiness is the time I spend developing a heart after God’s heart. I want Him to shape my heart to reflect Him. I’ve seen people who can do all the right things, and say the right things, but then their heart comes out later and it is not pretty at all.
The Lord sees when I honor Him with my lips and my heart is covered in sin and deceit. He sees the hypocrisy of my behavior, when my heart is far from Him.
I believe the Lord should be first in line to see my personal holiness and others should discover it rather that me announcing it with fanfare. I think true humility is also a mark of personal holiness, because everything I am and everything I have or have done is because of Him ruling and reigning in my surrendered heart.
Pressing On!
Dwayne