Holy: It's who you are

I have been pondering this idea of holiness. It seemed to me, at one time, that holiness was something to inspire to. Like if I work at it long enough or hard enough that I can actually be holy. What I am coming to realize is that is existential thinking. I am holy. I have been set aside, through faith in Christ, to be a vessel of God's love and the message of redemption. This makes me intrinsically holy. What I am coming to learn is that there are ties to my previous nature that must be broken in order to fully live out the reality of this new nature.

The more we come to know ourselves in the light of God's love, the easier it is to see that this command to "be holy" is not an external restraint designed to eliminate our choices. It is inspiration to dig deeper, past the shallow shades of self to discover the true image of God, which He placed in us. We are shaped to be holy, it is distorted by our willfulness to have our own way.

Living a more holy life is not about controlling our external behavior. It is about surrendering ourselves to the wholeness and goodness of God. It is uncovering the vulnerable places in our heart and allowing our true selves to be revealed in the character He created for us, rather with the mask that we have contrived. It may seem risky, but holy is who you are.