Holy Bullets…

Holiness means…

…being set apart for God’s use. All Christians are holy because God has chosen us and set us aside to be His people; that makes us holy. This is the meaning of 2 Peter 2:9, But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
…being morally perfect. When we say God is holy we are mean that God is perfectly and completely loving, just, good, truthful, gracious, and dependable. When we talk about people being holy, we mean people reflecting those same characteristics in their lives.

Personal holiness is…

…reflecting God’s character in our attitudes, thoughts, and actions.
…summarized in the Great Commandment. Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV), “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Love is holiness in action.
…what the Holy Spirit is working to produce in us. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV), And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
…something God calls all Christians to intentionally and actively pursue. Ephesians 4:22-24 (NIV), You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
…is a sign of spiritual maturity. 1 Timothy 6:3-4 (ESV), If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.

All that is true. But it is, I have been learning, just as important to know what it is not.

Personal holiness is NOT…

…why God loves you. God’s love for you is not dependent on your life being a perfect (or even a near perfect) reflection of His holiness. His love for you is not dependent on you at all. It is one-way love. Ephesians 2:8-9 (NLT), God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
…going to make God love you more. The Father already loves you as much as He loves Jesus. John 17:23 (NLT), I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. And nothing can separate us from that love (Romans 8:38).
…the reason God forgives you. Christ paid for all your sin at the cross. Forgiveness is not dependent on your godliness, but on Christ’s sacrifice. Romans 8:1-4 (NIV), Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
…to be used as a weapon. See Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector in Luke 18:9-14. Holiness comes from the work of the Spirit of God in us through faith, which is a gift. It is all by God’s grace, and therefore is not something we can boast about (Ephesians 2:8-9).
…to be pursued from duty. If our desire to be holy boils down duty or pride or fear our hearts are not in it. Thinking we can honor God by doing the right things apart from doing it from love—from the heart—is a dangerous mistake. Matthew 15:8-9 (NIV), These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules. The pursuit of holiness is done from love, in love, and for love of God.