The Beauty of Holiness

quietthinker said:

Those who love Holiness/Righteousness love God’s Law. It is their meditation day and night. They model their behaviour accordingly. In it is his character embodied.

Conversely, those who give lip service to Holiness put God’s Law in the shadows and Righteousness is not a priority.

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Psalm 29:2
Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

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101G said:

I agree totally, if you will may I add just a dash of flavor onto that. as we are to holy like him, OT first,
Exodus 19:4 "Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself."
Exodus 19:5 "Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:"
Exodus 19:6 "And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel."

Deuteronomy 14:2 "For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth."

NOW the NT,
Titus 2:14 "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."

1 Peter 2:9 "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:"
1 Peter 2:10 "Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy."

when one is "holy", one is peculiar I like that.

PICJAG.

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Heart2Soul said:

How interesting....I have been meditating on this as well....I have been praying for the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord in my life and to understand just what that is.....I heard in my spirit the Holy Spirit say that it was to be Holy as He is Holy....so then I started studying deeper about being holy as He is.....In prayer yesterday I asked the Holy Spirit to lead me to a scripture that He wanted to apply to my life for today and He had me read Proverbs 19....I was not expecting rebuke. But it made me realize that I am far from being holy as He is....
I cried and cried and said thank you for chastising me and opening my eyes to see how far from a life of holiness I really was....He is calling me/us to become holy and to draw as near to Him as we possibly can....to be separate from the world and its ways.

I found this on my web search about holiness....
2. Serve the Lord in a life of holiness
Mark 9:33-10:12
What should our attitude be to other Christian ministries and other Christian churches?

Divisions among followers of Jesus started very early on! The disciples started arguing about who was the greatest (9:33–34). In this context, Jesus speaks to them about the characteristics of a life of holiness.

• Humility
  Jesus tells them not to compete to be number one. It is always a temptation to compare. Envy and rivalry are great dangers. Jesus says if you are going to compete it should be to get the last place. If anyone wants to be first, they ‘must be the very last, and the servant of all’ (v.35). Leaders are called to humble service.
• Love
  ‘He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me”’ (vv.36–37). Love and welcome everyone, even those who are unable to do anything for you – the very young, the weak, the poor – in doing so you are loving and welcoming Jesus.
• Tolerance
  Jesus tells the disciples not to dismiss or judge others who do things ‘in Jesus’ name’ just because they are not part of your group (vv.38–39,41) or do things in a different manner to how you do them. It is a mistake to dismiss other Christians, other denominations or other organisations because they are not ‘one of us’ (v.38).
• Discipline
  We sometimes tolerate sin in our own lives but are intolerant towards other people’s sin. Jesus teaches us to be tolerant towards others, but intolerant about sin in our own lives (vv.42–49).
  
  Of course, Jesus is not speaking about literal maiming. Rather, he uses figurative language about what we do (with our hands, v.43), places we go (with our feet, v.45) and what we look at (with our eyes, v.47). Be disciplined, uncompromising and radical about sin. It is often sin that leads to division. Jesus calls us to be ruthless about living a life of holiness.
• Peace
  Jesus tells them not to argue but to be at peace. Jesus longed for his disciples to get along with one another, to stop arguing and to ‘be at peace with each other’ (v.50). Later, he prayed that we may be one in order that the world would believe (John 17:21).
• Faithfulness
  Jesus calls us to faithfulness in marriage. He points out that Moses’ permission of divorce was a concession and not a command. God’s intention for marriage is life-long faithfulness. Husband and wife are so closely united that they become one flesh: ‘So they are no longer two, but one flesh’ (Mark 10:8). This is the origin of the wonderful words in the marriage service, which follow the joining of hands and the exchange of vows: ‘Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate’ (v.9).

Lord, help me through the power of your Holy Spirit to live a holy life and to develop the characteristics of humility, love, tolerance, discipline, peace and faithfulness.

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Naomi25 said:

I just hear the hymn! I think holiness is something we could ponder on forever, and probably will. It's one of God's attributes, that which makes him worthy of praise, worthy of being Judge.
I think about the angelic beings gathered about the Throne of God, who sing "Holy, Holy Holy"...and even though there is no sin in these angels, they cover their faces with their wings, such is the holiness of God. Beautiful? Yes, but also, for us in our current state, terrifying. Thank God that he has made a way...and that...that IS very beautiful.
I think the best we can do, when trying to explain 'holiness', is to say that it is an essential part of God's nature that sets him apart from all other creation. It captures within its bounds his "all-goodness, all-loving, all-worthiness to judge" as well as the main 3 characteristics we normally apply to him, the 3 "onmi's". It characterizes his 'other-ness', from every other spiritual or physical being, setting him and him alone apart as God to be worshiped in totality; not just because of power, or not just because of birthright, or whatever you might want to point to, but because of all of it, which his holiness encompasses.
I think that's why we see, in Isa 6 and Rev 4 that the creatures call out "holy" 3 times; its like the triumverate of the Trinity; perfection and all completion in 3's.

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