God’s holiness acts like the Continental Divide, sending people in opposite spiritual directions. Those who love the fallen world recoil from holiness, while those transformed by Christ hunger for purity and righteousness. Scripture teaches that without holiness no one will see the Lord, and God provides both the power and the motivation for believers to grow in holiness through repentance, separation from worldly corruption, and the fear of God.
God says, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).
The Continental Divide
God’s holiness and his call for us to be holy as he is holy resembles the Continental Divide, which sends people one direction or the other. The Continental Divide is an imaginary line running the length of the Rocky Mountains in America. Precipitation and melting snow that occurs west of the Divide flows toward the Pacific Ocean or the Gulf of California. What occurs east of the Divide drains toward the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, or the Arctic Ocean.
Similarly, those who love the fallen world will recoil from the holiness of God and balk at personal holiness. The word holiness will have negative connotations for them, and they will avoid it.
Conversely, those who love God and his perfect purity will recoil from the corruption of the fallen world, recognize the goodness of holiness, and yearn for it.
The direction of people’s reaction speaks volumes about whether they can have any assurance of entering the kingdom of heaven. The Bible says, “Without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14 NIV).
How you can pursue holiness
Prior to conversion, few people pursue holiness. In fact, most people would prefer to do just about anything than be holy.
But thank God, he has provided a way to change our nature. He says we can be born again through faith in Jesus Christ (see John 3:1–21). When we put our faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins and begin to follow him as a disciple, he changes our appetites by giving us the Holy Spirit to live within.
Holiness is an acquired taste, but once God gives it to you through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, it is deeply satisfying, like eating food that is truly good.
How to grow in holiness
If you are a Christian who is committed to following Jesus as a true disciple, Scripture tells you two crucial steps to grow in holiness: “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1 ESV).
Cleanse yourself
First, this verse says we must “cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit.” That is why talking about holiness is relevant to this series about the fallen world, for it is the world and our love for the fallen world that defiles us.
So, ask yourself, what sinful things in the world do I enjoy?
Perhaps you love movies laced with lust-producing sexual scenes and nudity, or full of debasing profanity, or glorifying violence. Cleanse yourself from these movies. Stop watching them.
Perhaps you enjoy going to clubs that inspire only the lusts of the flesh. Cleanse yourself from them. Stop going.
Perhaps your best friends get together primarily to do drugs and drink to excess, or to talk incessantly about ungodly things. It is time to make new Christian friends and stop hanging out with the old crowd.
It is through activities of the fallen world that Satan influences you, deceives you, tempts you to sin. This is how he tries to drive you away from God, to avoid church and the Bible and Christians.
Develop the fear of God
Second, it is the proper fear or reverence of God that motivates us to pursue holiness. The Scripture above speaks of “bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1). Proverbs 16:6 says, “By the fear of the LORD one turns away from evil.”
Some evil aspects of the world get such a hold in the human heart that the only thing that can give a person the will power to quit them is the fear that God will punish them if they continue. And the truth is, God will sooner or later discipline or punish his children to cleanse them of evil! There is ample reason to fear the Holy God.
The Father’s discipline
Hebrews 12:6–11 says, “The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
“Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”
Remember
Remember why humans generally avoid the holy: If we follow the fallen world we are being influenced by Satan, who hates the holiness of God. Satan seeks to destroy your life. Learning to love what is holy and the holy God who makes you holy is essential for you to steer clear of Satan and have abundant life.
Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).
Choose holiness, hate worldliness, and enjoy abundant life forever!