Holiness

Holiness, Holiness is what I long for; holiness is what I need. Holiness, holiness is what You want for me. So take my heart and mold it. Take my mind, transform it. Take my will, conform it, to Yours, oh to Yours!
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"The holiness movements of today have none of the rugged reality of the New Testament about them. There is nothing about them that needs the death of Christ. All that is required is pious atmosphere, prayer and devotion."
~Oswald Chambers

I have been thinking much lately on the subject of holiness. What does holiness look like? How is it illustrated in my life? Where is it lacking in my life? What can I do to be more holy? What is keeping me from being holy?
At the same time I have pondering the work of the Holy Spirit in my life. Ironically enough, these two ponderings go hand in hand.

What does holiness look like? God. The Holy Spirit. Set apart. Separate. Different. I could go on. I think we all know what holiness is.

How is it illustrated in my life? In every choice that I make to be set apart for a higher calling. (Understanding that this is only accomplished by God's grace.)

Where is it lacking in my life? In every choice that I make not to be set apart. In every choice that I ignore my higher calling. Every choice that I settle for the mediocre.

What can i do to be more holy? Bad question. No. Really bad question. As people we can not "be" more holy. When we try to be holy all we accomplish is a "pious atmosphere, pious prayer and pious devotion"....that's a lot of piety, and last time I checked, piety was not what we were supposed to be going for in holiness. Piety is a lot of outward, self-seeking-praise conformity to the human definition of what looks good. That is not holiness. That is pride.

Speaking of Jesus Christ as an example vs. our Savior, Chambers goes on to say,

"There is only the idea that He (Jesus Christ) is our pattern. In the New Testament Jesus was the Savior long before He was the pattern. Today He is being portrayed as the figurehead of religion - a mere example. He is that- but He is infinitely more. He is salvation itself; He IS the gospel of God!"

You do not just wake up one day and decide, "Hey, that's it. I'm going to be holy from now on. I will be holy." Mission accomplished problems solved.
No. That is not how it works. Sure, we can try to look holy. But only the Spirit can work true holiness in our inner being. In 1 Peter, Peter says,

"...be holy in all your conduct....for it was written, You shall be holy for I am holy..."

Even looking back to the original text in Leviticus (chapt 11 to be precise) God says,

"...be holy for I am holy.... I am the Lord who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God, You shall be holy, for I am holy."

I always heard that as a command before. "You must be holy!" But looking at it now, I see that it is all a work of God. You will be holy. (notice, it is not a choice) How? Why? "For (because) I am holy." Because we are His and we have His Spirit living and breathing life into us, we can not help but be holy- for He is holy.
We become like an air freshener can. We are the can- He is the freshener. The can does not do anything but let out the scent. It is the scent that makes the difference in a room. The can cannot decide at the factory, "Hey, I'm gonna be an air freshener!" Much like we can not wake up one day and say, "Hey, I'm gonna be holy!" Only by the work of the Spirit are we transformed.
"By the renewing of your minds"  Crucial moment!!!! We are transformed by the renewing of our minds. Meditating on Scripture. Meditating on the good and lovely. The righteous and just. The very character of God. That He would be both our Savior and our example- instead of just one or the other.

What is keeping me from being holy? The only thing that hinders holiness in me is when I decide to take the reigns over and try to lead the Spirit. We were created to be Spirit-led, not Spirit-leaders. Read that again.

We were created to be Spirit-led, not Spirit-leaders.

What a mess the world would be in if we were in control of the Spirit. If we made all the decisions before Him without the foreknowledge He has of His master plan. The only thing that hinders me from seeing His holiness poured out in my life is when I choose to "defile" (as Leviticus puts it) myself. To defile is to mar or spoil. I get the image of a clean shirt in my mind. A clean shirt because that is it's nature. A shirt is clean. Period.  But then you spill coffee on it (not that there is ANYTHING wrong with coffee- if you know me, you know I think quite the opposite) and suddenly it is defiled. Coffee in and of itself is not harmful or bad, but when used inappropriately or unwisely it can ruin a perfectly beautiful outfit. You have to wash it before it can be used again.
We were created to be clean and holy.  We must use everything around us with the utmost care. Anything at all- though in and of itself may not be harmful- could mar our image- an image given to us by God. It could become soiled and dirty. But just as a dirty shirt can be washed, so we can be washed and once again be clean and white, a true representation of a Holy God who called us and sanctified us to be His children.

May I be Spirit-led that His holiness would shine through in this dark and dirty world.