The message of holiness has become somewhat a taboo in recent times. It is mystic and left to each one’s interpretation. I do not wish to delve in these murky waters but I will attempt to decipher and decode this ambiguous topic thereby making it palatable. I’d like to state from the onset that holiness is what we all aspire to and I do not purport to have attained. Remember, we have learnt this week that obedience is what God demands of us and we have the grace to say No to ungodliness. We also learnt that the Holy Spirit is there for us to convict us not to condemn us when we fall short in our pursuit of righteousness with our constant struggle with sin. Question is, why bother? Why bother to chase a moving target? God has commanded us to be Holy, just as He is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16). Peter was quoting Leviticus 11:44. This is not only for the dispensation of the Law but we too in this dispensation of grace are called to be holy.
A calling that is an impossible task. A calling we simply are out of depth and lack the capacity to attain. Yet, He who is holy, He who whose eyes are purer than to behold evil (Hab 1:13), He who turned His back on His son Jesus at the cross because of sin, is asking us to be like Him. He created us in His image, His likeness. We are gods (Psalm 82:6), his children curved out from Him carrying His DNA. The DNA that is pure, blameless. Holy. All of a sudden, this fact changes everything. You see, if the DNA is holy, then we can safely debunk the myth that it is impossible to attain Holiness.
Holiness. The Hebrew word is qadowsh or qadosh {kaw-doshe'}; to mean sacred (ceremonially or morally); (as noun) God (by eminence), an angel, a saint, a sanctuary:--holy (One), saint. From this I pick out an interesting description of holiness; i.e. oneness. Deut 6:4 says, the Lord our God is ONE. Unity.
Coming back to our theme scripture 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 breaks man into 3 parts. The spirit, the soul and the body. All 3 must be kept blameless. It is possible to be contaminated in your spirit, yet your soul is blameless or be impure in your body but your spirit soul are blameless. 1 Corinthians 5:5 Paul instructs the church in Corinth to handover the fornicator to Satan for the destruction of his body to have his soul saved. Here we see a disconnect between the soul and the body. Luke 12:20 in the parable of the rich fool, Jesus says that the rich fool’s soul was required that night. It is required that the soul is also saved since we know that the soul that sinneth shall surely die. (Ezekiel 18:20) .
The desire of God is to have the entire being -spirit, soul and body blameless. This is holiness. We have noted that holiness is ONENESS just like God is ONE. Our aspiration is therefore to attain the unity of the spirit, soul and body to become blameless in all these parts. Holiness is not attained if one or two parts of the entire being are pure. All 3 must be in tandem for holiness to be attained. In essence we must work on our spirits, our souls and body. God has called us to holiness -the unity of the spirit soul and body.
Your spirit is regenerated when you get born again but your soul and body are not immediately converted. The Spirit -the breath of the almighty that gives life (Job 33:4) takes over your spirit and begins to wash and sanctify your soul. Your soul is your mind, your feelings, your emotions, your intellect. It is where reasoning takes place. Your soul ought to be born again -the renewing of the mind, take the mindset of Christ. Your body is your physical house -where your spirit and soul reside. Your body is condemned to sin and must be born again as well. Bible says do not lend your body to sin, flee sexual immorality that sins against the body, do not offer your body as instruments of wickedness. (Rom 6:12-13). You must discipline your body to obey the spirit man. Your body is as important since it is the agent through which God's will is accomplished on earth. Bible says we offer ourselves as living sacrifice -holy and acceptable. (Rom 12:1) The body has gateways to the spirit and the soul. The eyes, the mouth, the sex organs, the ears. These must be guarded and be kept pure. The eyes must keep away from all appearance of evil, (1 Thess 5:22) the mouth must not speak blasphemous words or ungodly talk (Eph 4:29), the body must not engage in sexual immorality i.e. perversions or be a hint of the same. (Eph 5:3) The ears must hear the word continuously and not evil. Isaiah 55:3 says, incline your ears to hear God. Remember in Leviticus 8:23 Moses sanctiied Aaron’s right ear with blood. The hands must not teach the unclean thing (2 Corinthians 6:17), the feet must not take you to the company of the wicked, or sit in the seat of mockers (Psalm 1:1)
Friends, the demand for holiness is heavy. Your life is not your own. We must be stewards of what God has given us. We must engage in spiritual disciplines that cut across our entire being. From prayer feeding our spirit, fellowshipping with fellow brethren feeding our souls to fasting beating our body to submission, we must get intentional with holiness. The Word of God is living and active (Heb 4:12) dividing soul and spirit. Every fiber of our being needs the Word to be sanctified and only then can we begin to look like God. Holy. The MSG translation renders 1 Thess 5:23-24 in such a beautiful way and I do not have any better words to encapsulate what I have shared today!
May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he’ll do it!
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