In Hebrews 12: 14 it is reflected that without holiness no one will see the Lord, but what holiness are we talking about? Can we be holy in the way that God is? What does it mean to be holy and how can we achieve holiness for God? Discover the answers to all these questions throughout this article.
What does it mean to be holy?
People often confuse holiness with perfection, but they are certainly not the same. The word holy means set apart for God, and we reach holiness the moment we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. This is reiterated in John 3:16 by saying “so that everyone who believes in Jesus does not perish but has eternal life”.
Does God contradict himself in the Bible? Well no, God doesn’t lie. If we dedicate ourselves to see all the verses that speak about holiness and we can realize that what the Lord meant when he said that “Without holiness no one will see the Lord” was that “without Jesus no one will see the Lord.”
In fact, he proves it when he says that Jesus is the truth, the way and the life, and no one can come to the Father except through him. Later he confirms it also saying in Galatians 2:21 that if justice comes from the law, the sacrifice of Christ was in vain. That is, why did Christ die if we are saved is it by our works?
God could not have subjected his son to something so strong just for attention. He had a purpose in all of this, and that purpose was the salvation of mankind. We can be saints, but we are not perfect like God, it is almost impossible to achieve perfection because there is always something that makes us sin even without realizing it.
The Bible says that we were created in the image and likeness of God.IN EVERYTHING BUT IN SIN”. Almost no one takes into account this last but very important detail of the verse. God is without stain of sin, we are not. For this reason he had to send his only son as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins, because by law NO ONE could be saved, we are too imperfect for this.
Without holiness no one will see the Lord: we must walk with God
After having understood the concept of holiness, it is also necessary to understand that although it is impossible to achieve perfection, we must always seek it by doing things that are pleasing in the eyes of God. The fact that we are holy or set apart for God after accepting Jesus Christ does not mean that we have the right to sin deliberately. Why?
We must not confuse freedom with licentiousness either, and if we walk around doing things left and right and mocking God based on the fact that Christ has already saved us, then we are walking wrong, because . The Lord knows our hearts and knows if our repentance is real or not, he also knows if we serve him out of love or hypocrisy.
How to live in obedience to God?
As I said before, it is impossible to achieve perfection, because the only perfect and sinless being is God. However, we must try to walk as he wants us to. This would be the equivalent of trying to achieve perfection. Here are some tips to help you lead a life set apart for God:
1. Honor God
If we want to be holy, we must honor and revere God. Without reverence for the Father, we will not be able to live in holiness. Christian people should have a reverent fear of God, and do the things that please him. This implies always seeking him in prayer and in his word, which is the true daily milk.
A relationship with the Father is essential for those who want to walk towards perfection. Since we are his children and members of his family, we must resemble him. We should follow it. If we are not part of his family, if we are not his children, we cannot be saints, therefore it is important to confess Jesus Christ as Savior.
2. Show love
In 1 Corinthians 13 he tells us about the love that God wants us to have. Love is the foundation on which everything else is built. This chapter of the bible teaches that without love, the work we do is not profitable for us. Therefore, love is essential to the holy life.
The love that flows from Christians should be pure, without hypocrisy, a healing balm that soothes the weary, angry and exhausted soul. Holy men and women should have forgiving hearts filled with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience (Colossians 3:12-13).
Those who are holy and walk uprightly before the Lord must be on their guard against harboring unforgiveness, anger, and resentment in their hearts. We should be quick to forgive and spread the love of Christ wherever we go. If we are going to be holy as He is holy, that means we have to show love and forgiveness even when the recipient does not deserve our love or forgiveness.
3. Honor your parents
Jesus Christ was the Word of God in flesh (John 1:14), and even honored his parents by continuing “in subjection to them” (Luke 2:51). Christians should honor their parents as much as possible, without following any immoral, illegal, or sinful behavior that they may display.
Honoring our parents means loving them and helping them as much as we can. Honoring our parents means bearing witness to Jesus Christ and remembering that we would not be on earth without them. Loving our parents and forgiving them, despite their flaws, is a great way to please God.
4. Serve others
Jesus Christ served others. And just as Jesus served people, so can we. We can serve anyone by using , talents, and resources to share the good news of the Gospel of Jesus, feed the hungry, and provide shelter for the homeless.
We can serve other believers by building them up, encouraging them, and comforting them along their Christian journey. We serve the Lord by obeying his Word and glorifying him on earth.
5. Stop sinning as much as possible
Our bodies are the temples of God (1 Corinthians 6:19). We need to keep our temples holy because he remains in them. Christian women should dress modestly, so as not to draw attention to themselves. We want to attract people to God, not to ourselves.
Although the world tells us otherwise, Christians must uphold the truth of God’s Word and stay away from the lusts of the world. Romans 12:1 it teaches us to present our “bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God,” for such is our reasonable service.
The Bible also tells us to “avoid fornication” (1 Corinthians 7:2). An interesting point about sin is that the Bible tells us to avoid the very appearance of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22). So not only must we avoid sin, we are calling for holiness to avoid the appearance of evil.
6. Give a good testimony
Those who want to live in holiness will be those who want their conduct wherever they go (2 Peter 3:11). Therefore, being holy includes our conduct or behavior in the places we visit most frequently: stores and our jobs.
We must respect our managers and co-workers. We must also show respect for those in the marketplace. We should not be seen in stores using foul language, engaging in sinful behavior (such as stealing).
7. Don’t be a fake Christian
There will be many people who will stand before Christ on Judgment Day, but many will hear the most powerful of his life. Because many believe that they know the Lord, but Jesus does not know them, and that has tragic consequences. Some think they are living in Christ, but in reality they are not doing the things He specifically commanded (i.e., Matthew 25: 35-36).
“As a result, Jesus says: I declare to you; I never met them; get away from me, workers of lawlessness” (Matthew 7:23). Jesus doesn’t care if you say you know him. What is of eternal importance is that He knows you. They trusted in his works to be saved (Ephesians 2:10), instead of Christ to save them by grace alone.
8. Get away from your old nature
Our old sinful nature does not just disappear overnight or the day we are saved, but the new creation in Christ and our old nature do battle. After we receive a new nature as children of God, the old one still likes to come knock on our door and make itself at home. It is a battle we will all fight, until we reach the grave.
9. Do not resist the Holy Spirit
Sanctification is by the Holy Spirit is part of our conversion (1 Father 1:2). In this way, known as ultimate sanctification, the Spirit separates us into Christ so that we can be saved. The Spirit also works in us so that we can be obedient to Christ, a process known as progressive sanctification.
In this ultimate sanctifying role, the Spirit: (A) exposes our sin so we can recognize and turn away from it, (B) illuminates Scripture so we can understand its meaning, and (C) helps us see the glory of Christ. The Spirit is always willing to do this for us, so we must not “resist” (Acts 7:51) or “turn off” (1 Thess. 5:19) the spirit.
10. Pursue Jesus, not moralism
As we become holy, we will naturally become more moral. But that is not the main objective. Our search is for Jesus, not the . “Holiness is not ultimately about living up to a moral standard”; “It is about living in Christ and living out of our real and vital union with him.”
The meaning of without holiness no one will see the Lord is very simple; Jesus Christ makes us holy through the acceptance of his sacrifice, and without him no one can be saved, nor can he be the most perfect person in the world “which is also impossible.” To be set apart for God, we must repent of our sins and trust in Christ.
Once that happens, we become new creations in Christ and our nature changes. Now we want to live holier lives and avoid those things that we used to do before we were saved. Now, we could fall into sin, but it’s not like it used to be, where we would plunge into sin and drink the waters.
Today we still sin, but we do not deliberately continue to sin, because the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins and we confess them to God, and we repent of them. The new creation confesses and repents, while the old man even denied that there is such a thing as sin, but he who admits that he is a sinner and confesses his faults before God will be forgiven.