This book really was great for reminding me of what true Holiness is. I still remember growing up thinking Holiness meant you were some shiny glowing object used specifically for sacrificial purposes thousands of years ago, back when things and people “needed” to be holy in order to know God. Or so I thought. I know now that to be holy is to be acting in love no matter what the circumstance. To know God is to know love and to know love is to be holy. Or should I say, to know God we must know love, because God is love; therefore making us holy. So, really, we still need to be holy. It’s not just an ancient word used for people before we had Jesus’ gift of atonement. If anything, Jesus’ death should give us even MORE of a reason to be holy.
The book talks of how we should show love to one another just as Christ showed love to us (also found in the Bible). So, if loving equals holiness, then I have even more of a reason to be holy in light of Christ’s death; all the more reason for me to offer up my life as an offering for others’ lives.
God calls us not only to a happy-feeling-fuzzy on the inside love, but a tough love. In the old ancient texts it’s called agape, or, un-conditional love. It’s a love that keeps on forgiving, never runs out of grace, and never gives up on anyone. Because we are to love like Jesus loved us, we never have an excuse to be anything short of agape love.
Holiness should never be primarily focused on abstaining from sin, although being holy leads to less sin in our lives. In fact, if we were holy all the time we wouldn’t have sin in our lives, because love is the opposite of sin. When a man comes up to Jesus and asks Him, “Lord, what is the greatest commandment?” Jesus says, “to LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. The second is like it, LOVE your neighbor as yourself. To do this sums up the law and the prophets.” If I love God and my neighbor with agape love, I wont be sinning. If I love then I don’t have to worry about sin in my life. Therefore, sin has no power over me. Christ has taken care of sin and now He wants us to look for the love in all situations. Don’t look for the sin. Forget about the sin and just love because God is love. Be holy as God is holy. In doing so you will be perfect as Jesus is perfect. And through the power of the Holy Spirit, it’s good to know that that command is not impossible.
I want God to be so imbedded into my being that love is just who I am. I’ve noticed that His voice always leads to love. It’s so exciting to see Gods voice and love being one in the same. I pray that I continue to see that more and more in my every day life. But I also pray that I don’t just look for a voice to tell me to love and stay locked up in my room waiting for it. I want to be that love in every situation weather God tells me right now or not, because I know He already has. Everything is centered on love. I only want to love because of this great being that forces me to. And I only can love because of the love I know He has for me. I know that living in the way I have described would and could not be possible if God hadn’t demonstrated it to us in His life He lived on this earth.
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