Keep It Holy
God has always given man instruction pertaining to what He expects. From Adam and Eve to the acceptable sacrifice of Cain and Abel, to the details of the ark of Noah, to the glorious Scriptures contained in our New Testament, gives instruction to each of us, for today. When we comes to the book of Leviticus, if we were to sum up this third book of Moses, it would be to, “be holy.” Moses addresses the whole nation and communicates to them the divine instructions of common laws and duties and that they make themselves sanctified or set apart. God shows that He is holy and He asked them to be holy: “Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy” (Lev. 19:2).
Are you keeping your life holy?
God shows here that all the commands given are based upon holiness and it is the goal of such commands to keep one holy. This is no different than today. Paul said, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). Christians are never to be stumbling blocks to others. We are not to seek our own advantages. Instead, we are to be thinking of how we can best honor God. For, isn’t that what it partly means to be holy?
What does it mean to you that, “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17)? Being holy means that we do not merely turn over a new leaf at baptism, we begin a new life under a new Master. The Master is our Lord, not the master of sin and bondage. Therefore, “gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Pet. 1:13-16).
We should not be walking after the flesh, but after the spirit by focusing on holiness. And, we want to live holy lives because God is holy. He is absolute righteousness and purity. We want to be holy because God ask us to be holy. God wants people just like Him and who can live with Him eternally. God does not want us corruptible and dying with the world. Furthermore, we want to be holy because the Scriptures demands holiness. “Be ye holy; for I am holy” (Lev. 11:45; 20:7, 26). We have no choice. Therefore, if we wish to be like God and we desire with all our hearts to be with God, then we must be imitators of God. We must live lives that are different from the nations around us. We must keep our lives holy/set apart for God.