The Beauty of Holiness

Is the beauty of holiness indelibly etched into every aspect of your heart and mind?

January’s Awakening, Day 19

To be holy is to be morally blameless. It is to be separated from sin and, therefore consecrated to God. The word signifies “separation to God, and the conduct befitting those so separated.”

 —Jerry Bridges

He that sees the beauty of holiness, or true moral good, sees the greatest and most important thing in the world. Unless this is seen, nothing is seen that is worth seeing: for there is no other true excellence or beauty.

 —Jonathan Edwards

Remember your ultimate purpose, and when you set yourself to your day’s work or approach any activity in the world, let HOLINESS TO THE LORD be written upon your hearts in all that you do.

 —Richard Baxter 

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. Ephesians 1:4a NIV

Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. 2 Corinthians 7:1 NIV

For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 1 Thessalonians 4:7 NIV

            If you could fathom or imagine, perhaps, the most majestic mountain valley with crystal  streams flowing through, never touched or seen by humans, in an immaculate and pristine state—that might only begin to bring into visualization the beauty of holiness. Maybe the most brilliant of diamonds with each facet sparkling in unimaginable radiance and clarity, or maybe simply the brightest and purest of the most intense white light that is impossible to gaze upon—that’s the beginning of the experience of the beauty of holiness. Mere words cannot describe the beauty or true essence of God’s holiness.

            Even harder, maybe, for us to imagine is that we were created that way, in God’s brilliant image, yet free will evidently wasn’t satisfied and now mankind is but a very dismal and dim reflection of what we were created to be. Yet we live this life not for what we have become and what free will has stripped from us, but for the upcoming day when our salvation is complete. Even though we are tarnished and tainted, we are still a representation of God’s pinnacle of creation, and as such, we are admonished, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, to be holy as He is holy—or at least to strive to fittingly be our absolute best. Let “holiness to the Lord” be firmly etched into your heart and mind, every thought and word and deed.