Holiness has gotten a bit of a bad rap in the church in recent generations. That’s mostly because it’s been misrepresented. Growing up, whenever someone talked about holiness, they usually meant the “Pentecostal-Holiness” version of the word: In other words, a whole bunch of rules. The Wesleyan church had an entire book of rules. And some (very nice, I might add) people of other denominations I’ve met have even more rules!
Holiness isn’t about rules. It’s not about acting a certain way, dressing a certain way, or eating/drinking a certain way (or not drinking, as the case might be!)
The other bad rap that holiness seems to get is to view it as a reason for judgment. The thought is that God is so holy that He will bring judgment and destruction on everyone and everything that doesn’t live up to His standard of holiness.
But holiness isn’t about judgment. Yes, God will judge the ungodly (Jude 15, among others). Yes, we are called to cleanse ourselves, “bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1). But when we limit holiness to condemning others and following rules, we miss the point of holiness.
The point of holiness is an invitation from God, Himself – “Be holy, as I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). Accepting this invitation to holiness brings us into a space of perfection with a perfect God, even within the confines of this fallen world.
As a pastor said last weekend, “Holiness isn’t empty of sin and bad stuff. It’s a table filled with good things.” When we think of holiness as NOT doing bad things, we miss the point. Holiness is partaking of the nature of God – and all of the good things that go with it.
In the words of Isaiah, “A highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way… Everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.” That doesn’t have to be a promise for the sweet by-and-by someday. It is a holiness that we can enter into and walk in right now through the blood of Jesus!
