Continuing Thoughts on Holiness

"By those who come near Me 

I must be regarded as holy;

And before all the people

I must be glorified."

(Leviticus 10:3 NKJV)

    From the beginning God demanded absolute reverence from His people. He gave clear commands and expected strict obedience so they also would be holy/set apart from the surrounding pagan nations (see Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy for details). Every one of God’s commands were for the purity of His people and so that His people would regard Him as holy (Jeremiah 29:11-14).

    And it is no different today.

"...you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, 

a holy nation, His own special people, 

that you proclaim the praises of Him

who called you out of darkness and

into His marvelous light..."

(1 Peter 2:9 NKJV) 

    In the New Testament there are five Greek words for holy and holiness, but the most commonly used is ' hagios' (Strong’s #40) meaning: sacred (physically pure, morally blameless, or religious, ceremonially consecrated):- (most) holy (One, things), saint

    Think about that for a moment…

    That is what God requires of us when He commands, "Be holy for I am holy," to be    physically pure and morally blameless. God wouldn’t require it of us if it wasn’t possible!

Let’s do all we can to be holy just as He is holy!

    The Lord willing, next week, we will look at 1 Peter 1:14-15 and how to be holy “in all your conduct.”

 

Worshiping God in the Beauty of Holiness

"Give unto the LORD, O you mighty ones, 
give unto the LORD glory and strength. 
Give unto the LORD the glory due His name; 
worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.” 
(Psalm 29:1-2 NKJV)

    God desires us to worship Him in the beauty of holiness. Worship means ‘to bow down oneself, lay down in reverence’ and holiness means ‘to keep sacred and hallowed.’ 

    As women we take on a lot. We have daily household work, some of us have outside-our-home work as well. We are often primary caregivers (and conflict defusers) for our children and/or our aging parents. We can feel pulled in many directions and our minds can overflow with many concerns, but what if we truly laid down our lives for a moment: the chaos, the constant worry, the confusion, and dedicated time to prepare our minds before worship to think on all the ways God has helped us through the past week? What if we filled our minds with all His various blessings, His mercies and grace, His love and peace, His comfort and the ways of escape from temptation that He generously bestowed on us so that we could not only survive but thrive?

    How beautiful would that be?

    To truly come to worship, and worship our Father in spirit and in truth (John 4:24), our Father who has supplied SO much to us. To spend time afterwards not in talking to your sisters in Christ about the latest movie or reality TV show, but in talking of the development of your faith because you, through your week's experiences, have fortified your conviction that God’s promises of help are true and real!

    When we look at our weekly schedule we have a miniscule amount of time dedicated to gathering with the church in complete worship of God, let’s prepare ourselves for it!

    O mighty woman who takes on so much, give to the LORD glory and praise, give Him the best of yourself (your strength): your best words, your best efforts, your best attention so that you can give Him the glory due His name and truly worship God in the beauty of holiness!

From wherever you are right now - BEGIN!

You can do it! So can I!!

Attaining God's Standard of Beauty

    God looks at holiness and sees beauty; that is God’s standard for beauty - holiness.

    Holiness means sacred/consecrated, dedicated, hallowed. It holds within it the truth that 'we are less like the world because we are more like God.'

    What does that mean? What does that look like?

    Well, when we wholly dedicate ourselves to obedience, valuing our soul as sacred because of its eternal nature (being in the likeness of God, Genesis 1:26), we will:

• Nurture our soul by learning and understanding the will of the Lord (Psalm 27:8, Matthew 5:6, Ephesians 5:8-17)
• Keep our soul pure by being aware of the things we let ourselves think on (Philippians 4:6-8, Colossians 3:1-2), the words we speak (Ephesians 4:29, Psalm 19:14), the things we do (Psalm 1:1-3, 1 Timothy 4:12), etc. and by humbly seeking God’s forgiveness as we stumble and fall short (Romans 3:23, 1 John 1:9)
• Allow our soul opportunity to magnify the Lord, declaring His greatness to the world around us (Luke 1:46, 1 Peter 2:9; 3:15) as well as opportunity to reflect God’s light and love into the lives of others through good works (Matthew 5:14-16, Galatians 6:10)

    When we do all we can to live in holiness and reverence before God, respecting Him and His word as divine and worthy of all obedience, when we work daily to strive to do better (Philippians 3:13-14, Hebrews 5:12-14), following God’s commands, trusting His way to be the best way – God will see beauty in us.

    To be considered beautiful in God’s sight, oh, how wonderful is that!!

    You can do it! So can I!!

    Let’s help and encourage one another to be holy in all our conduct (1 Peter 1:15-16) and to be beautiful in the sight of God!!    

God's Standard of Beauty

     Beauty can feel unattainable, the world’s standards are always changing yet still continue to be just out of reach. Will we ever be thin enough? Tall enough? Will our clothes ever be fashionable enough? Our teeth white enough? The list goes on and on! But with God, none of that matters; His standard for beauty has never changed, it goes deeper than our surface appearance and, yes, it is completely attainable!!

    When God commands us to worship Him in the beauty of holiness (Psalm 96:7-9) it means that both holiness and the beauty found through holiness are attainable!! We are never asked to do the impossible, we can be holy AND be beautiful before God!

“Do not let your adornments be merely outward – 
arranging of the hair, wearing of gold, 
or putting on fine apparel – 
rather let it be the hidden person 
of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty 
of a gentle and quiet spirit, 
which is very precious in the sight of God. 
For in this manner, in former times, 
the holy women who trusted in God 
also adorned themselves, 
being submissive to their own husbands.” 
(1 Peter 3:3-5 NKJV)

    Don’t put all your time and attention on the outward, be sure to put time and effort into the hidden person of the heart – your inner self – through reading/study of God’s word, prayer, and good works; discover the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit who lovingly respects her husband and encourages his efforts to be the family leader God wants him to be. ~ Did you notice that our examples in this are “the holy women who trusted in God”? Holiness and beauty, together again!    

    God looks beyond the surface and here is what He provides: 

• Instruction on how to lay aside every weight (of sin, Hebrews 12:1-2)
• Instruction on how to grow and flourish in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18), 
• His armour of light, and it will always be the right thing to wear on every occasion (Romans 13:12, Ephesians 6:10-18)
• He can whiten our souls, making them spotless through Jesus’ blood and His forgiveness when we confess our sins to Him (1 John 1:9,  Psalm 51:7-9, 1 John 1:7) 

    Do you trust God enough to pursue the attainable beauty He grants us through obedience of His commands? It is a beauty that does not fade away, incorruptible, genuine, and lasting!! It only takes some daily time and effort and the results will astound you!! Are you ready to try? 

Let today be the day!!

You can do it! So can I!!

The Beauty of Holiness

    We want to be beautiful. We do what we can to appear beautiful. Some wear make-up and spend a lot of money on the latest “beauty treatments”, some get their hair cut and coloured on a regular schedule (or at least used to, before the pandemic), others go in for spa visits, manicures and/or pedicures. We spend money on clothes, shoes, perfumes, and accessories because we like beautiful things and we enjoy feeling beautiful.

    Is there truth in the phrase, “Beauty is only skin deep”? For some this may be true, as they put more time and focus into the make-up on their skin than into what is needed for the healthy make up of their soul. God wants us to go deeper than the superficial things that get removed each night, He wants us to work on the beauty that lasts our whole lifetime – an incorruptible beauty – the beauty of holiness!

“Give to the LORD, O families of the peoples, 
give to the LORD glory and strength. 
Give to the LORD the glory due His name; 
being an offering, and come into His courts. 
Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness! 
Tremble before Him all the earth.” 
(Psalm 96:7-9 NKJV)

    This month, let’s look beyond the reflection in the mirror, let’s look deeper and work on developing the beauty we all can attain – the beauty of holiness!!