Ephesians 1:4 continues by telling us why we have been chosen; it is not just so we can enter heaven, though that is the end result, neither is it so we can boast that we have been placed in God’s safety net; it is “that we should be holy and without blame (unblemished)…” So what is holiness? To the secular world it may be a sanctuary, a priest or a minister; to the religious world it may be following a prescribed religious code or routine; but to the Biblical world it is a pure and undivided heart in harmony with God. Sanctify is another word for consecration or making holy. God’s desire is for His covenant people to be a holy people; in Deuteronomy 14:2 He said, “…you are a holy people to the Lord your God…” and as such they were prohibited from following the customs of the heathen cults around them. God’s holy people in the Old Testament were marked with the sign of circumcision, (see Romans 4:11); but the circumcision God desires “is that of the heart, in the Spirit…” Romans 2:29. In Deuteronomy 10:16 God instructed “circumcise the foreskin of your heart…” So the mark of true circumcision is purity of heart; Jesus said “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God” Matthew 5:8. The first step of holiness is to allow God to do a work of transformation within us; In Ezekiel 36:26 He says “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you…” But then there is a second step in holiness which is our response to His work; 1 Peter 3:15 says, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts…” Again God says “Be holy for I am holy” 1 Peter 1:16. Without holiness the Bible says “no one will see the Lord” Hebrews 12:14. Holiness is not being some religious guru, or oddball, nor is it developing a “holier than you” attitude, Isaiah 65:5. It is simply “that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love”.
New heart, new life
By Rose Hill
God wants in us a new heart to give,
Then a holy life we will live.
As we allow Him His work to do,
He will be making all things new.
Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version copyright …1982 by Thomas Nelson Co. used by permission.