Longing for Holiness

"For I am the LORD your God;
sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy."- Lev 11:44

God continues to be my teacher revealing insights and reiterating his will within scripture, through prayer and through conversations with godly men and woman. In particular, God is stressing the need to continually strive for holiness. Undeniably, He sets a high standard for his followers to attain; however we should not regard this as an impossible feat but rather, this should make us continually reexamine our lives keeping this command in mind, repenting from the things distancing us from God. In everything, we should strive to please Him through our thoughts, words, and actions (1 Cor 10:31).

I say this knowing that striving for this standard comes with difficulty because I am a person who is a continual subject to process of sanctification, but Jesus doesn’t promise that following him is free of hardship, but that we are subject to our own unique difficulties (Matthew 16:24-25). And without bearing these difficulties, it is impossible to attain what God desires (Heb 12:14). So the question is: how can I attempt to reach this high standard?

Quite simply: love. I find myself continually asking: am I loving God and people through my thoughts, words and actions? And thinking back, there are many times where I haven't done so, but Peter writes that by loving we cover a multitude of sins (1 Pet 4:8). By showing love, we are not only able please God by bettering ourselves but also this causes us to change the world.

Of course, knowing that we are unable to achieve holiness under our own strength, God promises the Helper (John 14:26), and through only relying on the Holy Spirit is God’s love perfected, because the Spirit is the imprint of God's loving nature (Gal 5:22-23) and His Spirit also convicts us by making apparent the desires of our flesh. Then, only through the reliance on the Holy Spirit are we able to reexamine our lives and strive for holiness.