Sacred & Set Apart

Here's a DVO devotion from last year that seeks to explain the meaning of the words "holy" and "sacred" and I think does it rather well. March 3, 2016 He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace... 2 Tim 1:9 (NIV) Vocation - Part 3 Holy means "sacred and set apart." Isa 63 says, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory..." God is holy. 1 Pet 1:15 says, "Now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy." God wants us to be holy 1 Pet 1:2 "God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed Him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ." God has made us holy. To "sanctify" is the process of being made Holy. Which is what Jesus has done for us - sanctified us. The second part of 2 Tim 1:9 says (MSG), "We had nothing to do with it. It was all his idea, a gift prepared for us in Jesus long before we knew anything about it." Do we behave holy to be holy? Or are we made holy? Is it 'works based'? Or a work of grace? There's a tension between living holy and being made holy... God formed Adam out of dust. Picture His hands scooping up dirt, shaping it, carving out arms and legs, then caressing it until a face formed. Adam remained a beautiful pile of dust until one thing happened: God breathed into him. The moment that the breath of God connected with this shaped dirt, life ignited within Adam, and he BECAME. It is the breath of God that manifests His holiness to earth. These dust buckets we call bodies are filled with the Holiness and sanctity of the Divine, and it keeps us alive. When we die, the breath leaves our bodies, and they return once again to the dust. We have more than a connection with God - His breath fills us all, whether we know it or not. But for some, we understand that we have this treasure in "jars of clay"... we understand that we are the temple in which God dwells. (1 Cor 3:16-17). Through Jesus, the ability to become aware of what we have within us is attainable. Through His life, death and resurrection, our blindness is turned to sight, and we are free from the disconnect of the knowledge of the Holy. We can now peer underneath the physicality of life into the realm of the spirit, the divine, the supernatural... God. This is holy living. Knowing that we are connected to God - acknowledging that He sustains us and holds us together... and in turn, this connects us with one another. It is a sacred and holy knowing. A revelation that is sacred for eternity. And this awareness, given by grace and received by faith, prompts us to respond with our lives... what do we do with this knowledge? What do you do when you were once blind but can now see? TBC Privacy: This service is not intended to encourage spam. The details provided by your friend have been used for the sole purpose of facilitating this email communication and have not been retained by Alphapod. Your personal details have not been added to any database or mailing list. © Alphapod 2014. All rights reserved.