•••Holiness•••

1 Peter 1:15-16 ~But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

Galatians 1:10 ~Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. 

1 Peter 2:9 ~But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Romans 12:1-2 ~Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. 

Now I know that is a lot of scripture to put at the beginning of a blog post, however, I think it is necessary. 

Synonyms of Holiness:

Reserved, set apart, clean, designated, dedicated, devoted.

Opposites of Holiness:

Ordinary, common, unclean, defiled.

Concepts of Holiness: 

Different, stand alone, distinct.

The focus of this is holiness. God calls us to be holy. One thing that basically ever one of those verses mention is to 'not be like the world' to be different. God calls us not to fit in but to be set apart. For girls, being not of the world and being of God means dressing differently (modestly). We want to dress in a way that portrays Christ and draws the attention to Him. However, our character and actions should be different than the people around us as well. Our actions and character should portray Christ and His love. People should be able to see an outward difference of an inward change.

          One way we become different is by obeying God. Now most teenagers run at the word "obey". However, as Christians and followers of Christ it should be a joy to obey the Lord. Obedience makes us different, set apart, holy. We often worry about what other people think about us when we are different and obey Christ and not the worlds expectations. Go back up and read Galatians 1:10 again. It is very important we are striving to please God and not people.

   Now, if you are not clean, if you have screwed up and are living like the world, I have some great news for you: JESUS. There are two kinds of purity. The first type is one of that has never been used, undefiled, clean. The second type is one of that was once dirty, filthy, disgusting, and gross and has been washed completely clean. If you are dirty and not of Christ, you still can be! He will cleanse you and free you from being that way. You just have to ask Him. Once you have been washed clean by God, you are seen as holy in His eyes.

"If you were ever accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" 

"Your life as a Christian should make non-believers question their disbelief in God"