Today, however, I invite you to reflect with me on the topic, Our Holy God.
What does it mean to be holy?
We call today Holy Thursday; this holy means sacred and dedicated to God. That means that we have chosen to devote this day to God.
However, when we're speaking of the word Holy with respect to God, it's something a bit different.
Leviticus 19:2 says;
"Be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy."
In Leviticus 19, God tells us that he is a Holy God.
This time, however, Holy, means separate or set apart.
God is separate from humankind.
One way in which he is separate from us is that he is set apart from anything evil, in other words, God is completely good, there is nothing bad, evil or impure about our God.
Holiness is much deeper than we could ever come to understand but what we do know and understand about Holy things is this; it is so good that evil things are destroyed in its presence.
This is why there were very special and specific rules in place for the Israelites when God lived among them.
There were foods which were seen as clean and unclean. There were specific rituals which they needed to carry out for their purification and those priests who worked in the tent of The Lord's presence also had to hold themselves to a certain standard.
Why?
Because if they didn't do those things, God's holiness could destroy them.
Now, God also wants us to be Holy just like him.
Leviticus 11:45 tells us;
"For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy."
However, we humans sin and fall short of God's glory, how then can we be holy?
This was the question in everyone's minds for centuries after this statement was made, that is, until one man came and turned the tides in our favor.
This man is none other than Jesus Christ.
He was perfect, like a lamb without any defects, he came and was sacrificed to God. In fact, he was such a perfect sacrifice that God accepted him as the payment for the sins of the world forever!
Today, on this Holy Thursday, we remember the night on which our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, sat with his disciples, there he told them to break the bread and drink the wine, representing his body sacrificed for us and his blood spilled for us as payment for our sins so that we too might be holy.
Hebrews 10:10 tells us;
"For God's will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time."
There you have it, our Holy, loving compassionate God kept his promise and now we can have a chance at everlasting life.
This Holy Thursday, I pray that we will understand the length, depth and height of God's everlasting love for us as we commemorate the sacrifice that he has made on our behalf. Our Almighty Father is certainly worthy to be praised and adored for he is our Holy God who loves us.
No comments:
Post a Comment