Holiness is natural. Now, I’m not saying that it’s common or regular, but I am saying it’s not spooky. Jesus was the holiest man who ever walked the earth, and yet He was comfortable among sinners. How? How was the holiest man able to sit, eat, and talk with sinners without this affecting His holiness? Because holiness is not a weird, delicate aura; it’s able to move about naturally. God moves very naturally in this world. Again, my definition of natural is not fleshly, common, or base. I define natural as without artifice.
Christ was so intact, contained in the will of God, that He didn’t have to fear a breach in His holiness. His holiness didn’t make Him untouchable; rather it came from His being perfectly at home within the will of God.
Holiness in common view
Some people believe that holiness means that you’re unattainable, that you are somehow outside the realm of reality. This is the furthest thing from the truth. Holiness doesn’t necessarily set you above, instead, it sets you apart. To be holy is to be in God’s will. The otherness seen in someone who is holy derives from the Source rather than the proximity to religious things.
This means that to be holy we live from His mind rather than ours. Following the Shepherd wherever He goes. I am not the lead; this sets me apart and makes me holy. Christ sat among the sinners because this is where the Father chose to sit. He wasn’t daring the religious to be as free as He. No, Jesus was simply being obedient and this made Him holy.
You shall be holy, for I am holy.
1 Peter 1:16 HSCB
Holiness is not isolation unless God has you in a place of solitude. Holiness is not quiet unless He is choosing not to speak. Holiness is whatever the Father wants to be, wherever He wants to be it. We shall be holy, because He is holy. He is our holiness, and in Him I am holy.
Holiness doesn’t have to defend itself in fear of defilement, nor does it mean I will flaunt my liberty because I think I am superior. Holiness is only one thing—GOD! I am holy for He is Holy, because I am in Him. His life is holy and His life is my life, therefore my life is holy. Holiness is living in the Will of the Father. If you see a truly holy man or woman, you are seeing one who is living in the will of the Father, from the Source of His Life and in conjunction to His moving in this earth.
Christ’s holiness was comfortable with sinners
So holiness is not creepy. This is demonstrated not so much that Christ was able to eat with sinners, but that the sinners were comfortable eating with Jesus. People have an innate sense of what is creepy – a creep-o-meter, so to speak. If Christ were unnatural, hovering above these lowly, dirty people with condescension, those sinners would have sent Him packing. But no, here you have the holiest man who has ever walked on the earth, with no red flags disturbing the common sinners. These broken individuals looked in the face of Holiness with desire and fascination, not fear and condemnation. His holiness made them hungry!
As I said, holiness is natural. Holiness is real, not made up or filled with pretense. Holiness is God’s Life expressed within His vessels. It’s the Life of God, living out the will of God, to display the character of God, through the love of God. We are holy when we are in His will.
The teaching Real or Religious perfectly compliments this post. I highly recommend it.
John, what an outstanding understanding of holiness…thank you so much for sharing! So many of us who were raised in the church have made holiness such an ethereal thing…thank you for the reminder that God’s calling in our lives to be naturally supernatural!
Mmm…the reason why I am so drawn to Him, plainly put in words. I shall cherish this post for a long, long time.
“These broken individuals looked in the face of Holiness with desire and fascination, not fear and condemnation. His holiness made them hungry!” John, this reminds me of Luke 9, the feeding of the 5,000 (+). Granted, they were literally hungry but I remember the scene in “Jesus of Nazareth” where Mary Magdalene, in the backgound, is given a piece of bread; as she eats it, she is weeping. She is a broken one. Jesus blessed it before the twelve gave it out; so even the ‘broken pieces’ were blessed. They HAD to see His holiness — I mean, all those… Read more »
Jesus was simply being obedient and this made Him holy. Wow! That surely did witness in my spirit. Thank you, John. Merry Christmas to you and all the Shulamite team.
W-O-W THank you bro.
But no, here you have the holiest man who has ever walked on the earth, with no red flags disturbing the common sinners. These broken individuals looked in the face of Holiness with desire and fascination, not fear and condemnation. His holiness made them hungry!