Verse: Revelation 4:8
“Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."
“Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."
A godly Christian woman in my church made a great observation. She stated that the bible says that God is holy, holy, holy. We don’t see in the Word that God is mercy, mercy, mercy; or love, love, love, yet we know that He is merciful and loving. However, the bible does repeat the characteristic of holiness three times stressing the magnitude and degree of holiness found in our God.
We often think of God like He is a 'good' version of ourselves, but God does not have our nature. He is Holy. That is His nature. We, on occasion, do good works that He has prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10), but He is perfectly holy, always. Perfect holiness is a trait that is difficult to understand because, aside from Jesus, there are no human examples of this holiness. Since we are sinful (Romans 3:23), we cannot fully understand the depths of His holiness. We know that it is not equivalent to the idiom, ‘holier than thou’ which means ‘a person who is obnoxiously pious or self-righteous'
(http://www.dictionary.com/). Perhaps to understand holiness it will help if we discuss what it is not.
Holiness takes no pleasure in degrading another via dirty jokes or racial slurs, it takes no delight in seeing others suffer, there is no amusement in the embarrassment or humiliation of another and no pleasure in condemning someone else. It is not abusive emotionally, physically, or verbally. Holiness is the absence of selfish ambition, conceit, malice, dissentions, envy, fits of rage. Holiness is not obscene. Holiness does not turn a blind eye to injustice. Holiness does not ignore oppression. On the other nail pierced hand, holiness is unconditional love, absolute truth, and eternally merciful.
The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high!
Prayer:
When everything seems to be working against me, help me to remember that You are holy.
Read More:
Isaiah 6:2-3
Plan of Action:
Today, during your prayer time, take time to confess your sins to Him. He will be faithful and just to forgive them. (1 John 1:9)
We often think of God like He is a 'good' version of ourselves, but God does not have our nature. He is Holy. That is His nature. We, on occasion, do good works that He has prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10), but He is perfectly holy, always. Perfect holiness is a trait that is difficult to understand because, aside from Jesus, there are no human examples of this holiness. Since we are sinful (Romans 3:23), we cannot fully understand the depths of His holiness. We know that it is not equivalent to the idiom, ‘holier than thou’ which means ‘a person who is obnoxiously pious or self-righteous'
(http://www.dictionary.com/). Perhaps to understand holiness it will help if we discuss what it is not.
Holiness takes no pleasure in degrading another via dirty jokes or racial slurs, it takes no delight in seeing others suffer, there is no amusement in the embarrassment or humiliation of another and no pleasure in condemning someone else. It is not abusive emotionally, physically, or verbally. Holiness is the absence of selfish ambition, conceit, malice, dissentions, envy, fits of rage. Holiness is not obscene. Holiness does not turn a blind eye to injustice. Holiness does not ignore oppression. On the other nail pierced hand, holiness is unconditional love, absolute truth, and eternally merciful.
The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high!
Prayer:
When everything seems to be working against me, help me to remember that You are holy.
Read More:
Isaiah 6:2-3
Plan of Action:
Today, during your prayer time, take time to confess your sins to Him. He will be faithful and just to forgive them. (1 John 1:9)
Darlene,
ReplyDeleteThis goes perfect with the Sunday School lesson this weekend! I may quote you during the lesson. It is exciting that God is preparing the way for our new study...even the songs we will be singing during the worship service. Can't wait to see what He has in store for us.
Carmen