Holiness is a command !

Holiness is not an Option, It is a command

By Abraham Israel

1) The Lord is the one who sanctifies us. We cannot do it on our own. As God Himself declares, “Keep my statutes, and do them; I am the LORD who sanctify you.” (Lev 20:8). Religion tries to do it on its own and it is a man made substitute that man has produced to satisfy his conscience which cries out for God and his holiness and sanctification. God will always reject that which He has not initiated.

2) The tabernacle of God is our body in the New Testament, and it is sanctified only by the glory of God appearing in it which is the Holy Spirit of God. Only through the glory of God appearing in us and through us, God meets His people. (Exod 29:43; 1 Cor 6:19-20).


3) If we resist by the power of God against the urge to sin by depending on God, we will of course suffer in our soul for a little while, but the ultimate result and the fruit of it will be, the sin that has ruled us will lose its power over us. Praise the Lord! (1 Peter 4:1, 2).

4) What we feed will grow, what we starve will die (Rom 13:14; 7:5, 6; Matt 3:6-11).


5) It is for our safety that he commands us to be Holy because when the enemy comes to attack us, only if we maintain our holiness by keeping the camp clean, then only He will fight for us. God cannot break His word and hence His nature (Deut 23:14; 2 Cor 6:16-7:1).

6) We need continuous cleansing by the blood of Jesus, through continuous fellowship with God. Apart from Him we cannot maintain our personal holiness in our soul and life. With out Him involved all our striving is futile. Through receiving His thoughts from His Spirit we learn to think rightly as a righteous person and hence will speak rightly (Heb 9:14; 1 John 1:7, 9; Rom 7:18, 19; Prov 12:5; Ps 139:4; Matt 12:37).

7) He did not command just to be holy in the Old Testament only, but equally in the New Testament (1 Peter 1:15-16; Lev 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:7-8). With out Holiness no one can see the God (Heb 12:14). In other words you cannot experience the activity of God in your life or through your life continiously, if you are continuing with out Holiness [i.e. set apartness of your life for God or surrendering your will to God].

8) When the unholy thoughts gets imposed over your mind “…bring continuously every thought captive to the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor 10:5). Especially every high thing and arguments that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, these are the strongholds which can be pulled by using the weapons of warfare which are mighty in God (2 Cor 10:4-5). You must have an attitude which is ready to punish all disobedience, when God directs you to perfect obedience in your daily life (2 Cor 10:6).

9) The season of the figs means, it is the season when the fig fruit is fully ripe to be eaten deliciously in its original taste. However, the fig fruit comes first even before the leaves spring out or with the leaf indicating that when the leaves were seen there must be some figs [not necessarily fully ripened figs] without fail. This is what Jesus was expecting from the nation of Israel in Mark 11:12-14, 20-21. It got cursed because of its uselessness. Jesus is also looking for fruit of Holiness even in our lives too and God has no favorites, this will happen to us if we too are not at all giving fruit as Jesus expects for the glory of God.

God has kept us in this planet earth, not to be useless Citizens of the Kingdom but to be fruitful Citizens who will cause the Heavenly Father to be glorified by bearing much fruit (Matt 3:10, 12; John 15:8). These fruits of Holiness are described in the Bible as ‘the fruit of the Spirit’ and these fruit will be seen in our lives naturally when we are attached and connected closely with the Lord Jesus through His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23; Rom 6:22; Heb 12:10, 11). The fruit will be seen more and more only through pruning and chastisement (John 15:1; Heb 12:11). So always be joyful when you go through these painful processes, telling yourself and encouraging yourself saying, ‘This too will go and it will not be forever’ and affirming yourself that you are on the path to maturity and fruitfulness in Christ (James 1:2, 3; 5:10; Rom 5:2-5; Acts 5:41). This can be termed as destiny-long sightedness. The opposite of this is short sightedness which will bring much trouble in to ones life because of unholiness (2 Peter 1:9).

Share:

Previous Posts