Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14
As Christians, we are called, even commanded, to be holy. According to the passage from Hebrews above, holiness is essential and required if we are going to see God. That's pretty important. I want to see God. I want to be holy.
But what does that mean?
Holiness is a distinction, an identifiable quality of being reserved or allocated for a certain and special purpose. To be holy means to be separated and different from that which is ordinary. Clear as mud?
Simply put, in terms I can understand, holy means set apart. In Christian application, being holy means being set apart for God. If we are holy, we are different, distinct, and distinguishable from the rest of the world. As a Christian, you are supposed to be different.
Being different isn't easy.
The world has some not-so-flattering sayings regarding holiness. Holier than thou, holy-roller, and holy crap (or worse), to name a few. In a world that speaks of dung being holy on a daily basis, holiness is not taken seriously, or when it is, it's seen as something strange and unusual, which is not entirely wrong.
To be holy, we must live for God. Not for ourselves, or for the world, but God and God alone. That is strange and unusual. Most people, including many claiming Christianity, live to please themselves. Anyone who acts differently from that is immediately recognizable, and often stigmatized. It's not easy to be different, but God never said following Him would be easy.
Can we be holy?
We will never, in this life, match the holiness of God. Only He is perfect, truly set apart. We all sin. We all fall short. Satan would have us believe we shouldn't even try. If we know we are going to fail, why put forth the effort?
The answer to that is in the verses above. We are called to strive for holiness. The author of Hebrews says, "make every effort . . . to be holy." We are to be set apart from the rest of the world in what we do, what we say, and how we think. Holiness is less about actions than it is about motivation. You can do a lot of "good" things and fall far short of holiness.
What does it mean to be holy?
It means setting your mind on things above, not on earthly things (Colossians 3:2). Want to be holy? Put God front and center in your life. Constantly. Before you do or say anything, think about God. Where is He in your decision? Check your motivations. Why are doing, or thinking, this or that? Holiness is simple: Put God first. Simple, but not easy.
Holiness is about why you do what you do. Jesus fed the poor, healed the sick, and comforted the grieving. Even today, people would say those actions are "holy." They equate good works and kindness with holiness. Jesus also cleared the temple with a whip, called the Pharisees white-washed tombs, and referred to His disciples as stubborn and slow-minded. Was He any less holy then?
A holy person is not necessarily the perfectly peaceful angel with the halo pictured above. A holy person is one who does what God wants them to do. They put God first, and set themselves apart from the purposes of the world. They strive to be like Christ, who is God, because He, and He alone, is holy.
That's what it means to be holy.
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