Faithful on Fridays Blog

Eph. 1:3-14 Holiness

Have you ever read the qualifications for sainthood? Don’t get me wrong, I love that we honor what God has accomplished through believers of the past as our Catholic friends do, however, what are the Biblical qualifications for being a saint?

Let’s take a short trip into the Old Testament to find out where it all began. God declared Himself holy. That’s not simply existing without sin; it’s much more than that. Our God, in three persons, is kadosh, holy: distinct and totally different. He’s from another realm, another world, so to speak and no one can compare to His majestic authority and character. Yet this God, who made a love-covenant with mankind, commands us to be holy as well.

For I am the Lord your God. You must consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Leviticus 11:44a NLT

Seriously? A command to be holy? Well, the logical question arises: just what is holiness? The truth is that when we were created in His image we were created holy. Yes, without sin, but again, more than that; we are to be different and distinct. Since the Fall we lost our sinless state but in Christ we are restored. We’re now seen by God as righteous and holy in our spirit and our goal is to live our lives as people who are distinct and different. That’s holiness. When we’re in Christ Jesus we are holy, we’re considered a saint or sanctified one. Sinless? No, not yet. Living our lives different from the world? Yes, we were chosen for that purpose, to be holy.

Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. Ephesians 1:4 

As New Testament believers we’re called to live in another world. A new sphere of life that has new morals and values not looking like the world any longer; we think differently, talk differently, and act differently. Living in Christ Jesus means that we now re-present Him to the world again as His image bearers.

Jesus died for His Bride, 

… to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to Himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. Ephesians 5:26-27 NLT

Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it?

The encouragement I bring you this week is to live holy and different since you re-present Christ to the world, and He is holy. You will never be sinless in this world but every day you can grow in your spiritual walk. Every day you can take another step in holiness and gain more ground. Every day you can have a prayer on your lips asking God to give you a pure heart toward others. You live in another world, you are a saint; let your behavior and speech reflect that truth.