A HOLY GOD “‘To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?’ says the Holy One”. Isa 40:25 NIV One of the great leaders of the Christian church in the twentieth century was William Temple, an archbishop of Canterbury. He said once that if people lived with a wrong view of God, the more religious they became, the worse the consequences would be, and eventually it might be better if they became atheists. Your view of God shapes everything! Isaiah, living a long way from Jerusalem amongst the exiles in Babylon, knew the need to get God right - or his view of God. And one of the most crucial aspects of God is his holiness. His holiness means his difference, his separation from humanity in its sinfulness and weakness. It means his purity, his perfection and the sense of awe that he creates in ordinary, sinning human beings. God, Isaiah knew, was “totally other”. It also means his being on a different plane from human beings morally. Sins are sins against the holiness of God. It is his holiness that makes him abhor human sin. The idols of other nations - they were present on every side in Babylon - were not holy. They were of this world and worldly. And they led to their people remaining worldly - in the worst sense. Make sure you have a deep and clear sense of the holiness of God. Jesus was holy in the sense that he was completely committed to his Father-God. At the age of twelve he got lost in the temple because he was completely absorbed in the things of God. That marked his holiness. And it grew and developed. Making Jesus your model could be your pathway to holiness. And if your God is holy, you will be too. PRAYER THOUGHT Lord, make me holy as you are holy.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 06:23:36 +0000