holy what?

what does it really mean to be holy in today's world? do we even really understand what we mean when we say holy? think about the "holy" spirit, what does he do? what is it that we as a people who are called to be holy (as god the father is holy) are supposed to be striving for? can we even get a grasp of this idea or is it just good in theology? many scholars and high up people us the word interchangably with the word sanctification or even perfection (or christian perfection).

holiness is one of the characteristics of god-he says so himself (be holy because i am holy). when we look in dictionary for a defintion we could find several among them being free from sin, consecrated, set apart for god's use, sacred, and i'm sure the list could go on and on and on. but when we take a closer look at holiness we see that god wants us to be holy. i am sure each of these definitions touches on the actual meaning but i am unsure if they actually get to the heart of what it really includes (nor am i sure that i totally understand it). holiness in the church has taken a back seat to many things and it isn't even something that seems to be important anymore-we aren't concerned with how people are doing spiritually-we just want them to come and give money and feed the machine that we call the church, we want them to help run our programs and do other stuff too, but do we really ever get any deeper than this?

has anything that has been said or done in a church greatly impacted the way you live your life? has the holy spirit ever done something so awesome in front of you that you had to change your whole life around because of it? we have so bottled up the "holy" spirit and limited him to our terms that he can't work, he can't do the things he probably wants to do in our churches. our lives are never really impacted like the lives of the people who really encountered god, we just change the outward appearances for people to look at, but it never gets all the way to the heart. we aren't set apart people for god's purpose-many of us have no idea what god is up to and probably couldn't tell you the last time the spent time with god that meant something to them, that impacted them. encounters with god should leave an impat on us-they should shape us and cange us each time we have them. they shouldn't be once in a whole lifetime, we should be experiencing god on a regular basis. we should be in tune with what he is up to and what he wants to do in our lives or how he wants to use us to do something.

holiness requires knowing god-i mean really knowing him-not just with head knowledge but having regular experiences with him. it requires acting upon what he says without knowing what the outcome of the situation might be. it requires more than just attending church or helping in a church. it requires allowing the "holy" spirit to live inside of us. it requires us to make changes to the way we live and the way we go about our lives (not just outward changes, but inward ones as well). it requires us to put aside all of our preconceived ideas about god and what he should do and letting him really do what he wants to do. there is more to it than a one time meeting. being holy is a life long process that will require us to become more like jesus, to become moldable and shapeable again.

we have gotten so far from this. the church has turned this into an award ceremony-where we can judge who is the most holy based on their testimonies and the way they look and it is a shame. the holy spirit living in us is what is going to help make us holy. we can't do it by ourselves-and we shouldn't try (thank god the holy spirit is a gift given us by god to help us). it is time that the church got back to worrying about each other's spiritual lives (not so they can judge each other, but so they can help each other). it is time the word holiness was used correctly by people and organizations-not twisted to what they want it to mean. the church should be the place where people are learning to be holy-it should be the place where the holy spirit moves-where a holy god is allowed to work, but is it?

send me your thoughts on holiness.