I Am Holy Before God

Posted on Sep 28, 2015 Topic : Weekly Devotionals

Have you ever had difficulty with the Scripture passage, “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16)? Because most people think being holy is synonymous with being sinless, they think, Who could possibly be holy? It’s unattainable...unimaginable!

One day a friend said to me, “I know holy means ‘set apart,’ but I don’t want to be set apart. That sounds like having a constant case of measles!” Unfortunately, some people consider a holy person as one who lives a monklike existence, praying 24 hours a day so as not to sin. Holiness, however, does not bring about isolation, but integration—the integration of the character of Christ in you for His nature to be expressed through you. Nature simply means “that which is natural.”

When I was a little girl, my Uncle Jimmy walked me through his watermelon patch in Idabel, Oklahoma. Holding up a tiny black seed, he said, “These big melons grew from seeds just like this one.” That seemed impossible to me! Yet 80 miles from Idabel is the town of Hope, Arkansas, where something “more impossible” became reality. Lloyd Bright gave his watermelon seed the care and environment to grow naturally. The result? A world-record 268.8-pound watermelon! How? Watermelon seeds simply do what comes naturally to them—they grow. Their seeds are set apart by God for that purpose.

When you are set apart by God, holiness is natural. The Father is the gardener; Christ is the seed. With Christ in you, you are set apart to grow and become like Him. First John 3:9 explains: “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him.” It is natural for the Lord not to sin. Therefore, with God’s seed in you, it becomes increasingly natural for you not to sin. What seems impossible becomes possible. You are set apart from sin and set apart to God. You will not become instantly sinless, but you will sin less…and less…and less.

As you see yourself through God’s eyes and with His presence inside you, He will produce the impossible through you. Why settle for anything less?