Be Holy

“You shall not do as the nations before you… you shall keep My statutes and My judgments and shall not commit any of these abominations…” (Leviticus 18:26,28).

There’s something about “everybody’s doing it” that makes sin more palatable. We see this in the name of Jezebel. This evil woman married an Israelite king, then slaughtered the prophets of God, enforced immoral Baal worship, and introduced child sacrifice. Her name in the Old Testament means “unchaste”. Everything about her was immoral, deceitful, and demonic.

But when we get to the New Testament, we find Jezebel mentioned in Revelation… “You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce My servants to commit fornication, and eat things sacrificed to idols” (2:20). Yet this time, if you look up her name, it means “Chaste”. What a change! All that was so reprehensible years earlier is now being tolerated in a Church, no longer shockingly evil – the world has entered the Church.

Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, “Father… keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.” To sanctify means to “set apart.” Is this unreasonable that believers should live “set apart" from the world’s standards to God?

Imagine if musical instruments had no standard of tuning – there would be no such thing as good music. What if trades and vocations had no standards? Morality is no different. God has given us both the standard of excellence and the power of His Spirit to fulfill it. “Be ye holy, as I am holy” is neither unreasonable nor unloving.” It is the highest standard of living.

The Lord's call to "repent" and tune our lives to His Word is both gracious and urgent. The world once judged by water will soon be judged by fire... “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of people ought you to be in all holy lifestyle and godliness?” (2 Peter 3:11).

(Devotional by Lisa Cataford)