Friday, September 4, 2009

Holy vs "Holy"

"Holy is the way God is. To be holy he does not conform to a standard. He is that standard. He is absolutely holy with an infinite, incomprehensible fullness of purity that is incapable of being other than it is. Because he is holy, all his attributes are holy; that is, whatever we think of as belonging to God must be thought of as holy." - A.W. Tozer

As I saw my week come to an end, I couldn't help but think of my relationship with God and how far along I have come. The last few months have been a tremendous transformation on my life and perspective, although I know that God is continuously working with and through me. As Paul wrote in the letter to Philippi, "be confident, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion..." (v. 1:6). It is something I am rejoicing in daily because I know without a doubt that God is never going to give up on me.

With that kind of perspective, I came across the above quote by A.W. Tozer talking about God's definition of the term Holy and how it is a standard that exists in and with God. Think about this for a minute. We constantly pray to and worship the Lord that created everything from the tiny hairs on your arms and legs to the billions of stars and galaxies in the cosmos, and yet I feel that a lot of us who call ourselves "Followers of the Way" tend to place this same Lord into a small contextual word that we have termed "holy." It breaks my heart to see and hear of men and women who belong to the Kingdom of God and choose only to worship God when it is convenient or when the time is right. This is a rather corrupted view of God and church in general and I believe is unacceptable to God and His standard. My friends, the time is always right to worship Him and, convenient or not, God is fervently seeking our praise and worship of Him because of His Holiness.
Psalm 16:9-10 is a set of verses that show David's heart and perspective on God, in particular God's Holiness:

"Therefore my heart is glad and my inner self (glory in some translations) rejoices; my body too shall rest and confidently dwell in safety, for You will not abandon me to Sheol (the place of the dead), neither will You suffer Your Holy One to see corruption."

I love how David declares that he is safe because God will never "suffer to see corruption." In other words, regardless which "box" we try to place God into, He will never be corrupted or misled in any way, shape, or form. He will always be the Holy One, end of story.

So I ask you a question, and be honest with yourself: do you truly pray to and worship the unmistakable Holy God that with all due rights and respect deserves nothing less than His own standard but shows us never-ending grace and mercy otherwise? Do you get down on your knees and cry out to God that He is Holy, Holy, Holy and that you adore Him? Or do you wait until you get to church and go through the motions and pretend that He is "holy"?

I would encourage you reading this to stop whatever you are doing this very moment (that includes reading this sentence), get down on your knees, and truly worship and honor God, not for what He has done necessarily, but because He is Holy. Go ahead and do this. This entry isn't going anywhere...

I truly believe that if Christians everywhere truly perceived God as Holy instead of "holy", onlookers may be able to see a greater separation and unmistakable joy in their lives, and that's what the word Holy is about, right?