When some people hear the word “holiness” they think of a pope, a priest or a nun. Some may think of church buildings, or other places of worship. Other people might think of pious, religious people who have a “holier than thou” attitude in the way they treat others. Then there are also those who profess to live a holy lifestyle, but their thoughts, and actions, belie them.

Some of us might have acted in any one, or more, of these roles. Or we might have been on the receiving end thereof.

But what is holiness really? And why is it important?

What did God mean when He said: “Be holy as I am holy”?

The Hebraic concept of holiness is to be “set apart”. It’s also otherwise defined as: exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness.

When God speaks of holiness it is within the context of relationship. When He instructs us to be holy as He is holy, it means we should set ourselves apart from worldly devotions and devote ourselves totally to Him. We still remain in the world, but function different to the world.

A picture of this is the way that a husband and wife set themselves apart from all others and devote themselves physically, emotionally and spiritually to each other. They still remain in society, but interact differently with each other than with the rest of the population.

Holiness is build into every relationship that God designed, especially covenant relationships, e.g. marriage, parent-child, covenant friendships, certain relationships in church life, etc.

It’s interesting that these relationships are usually the ones that bear the brunt of the enemy’s attacks. But why?

What I believe is that these relationships, when protected and nurtured, pose an incredible threat to the kingdom of darkness. It displays elements of God’s glory to the world, and in that convicts the world of unrighteousness while drawing people to the beauty of Jesus.

The enemy has nothing in his artillery that can stop God, he is utterly powerless against Jesus. So he directs his attacks on us, God’s people. And one of his best strategies is to discredit us, to set us up as frauds, and this is what the relationships we are in will reveal.

All the enemy has are lies and deceit, empty delusions of fear and hatred. These will find fertile soil to grow in the hurts and disappointments people nurture in their hearts when they are ashamed to let someone else in through intimacy in covenant relationships.

Intimacy within the safe boundaries of covenant allows us the opportunity to heal and grow through letting someone else into the areas we used to keep to ourselves. This process might be very offensive at times, but only bears good fruit when we commit to work through our offenses and reconcile.

The process might be exhausting at times, it might even seem never ending, but does Proverbs not say that “Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend [to show … worthy purpose]” (Prov 27:17, Amp). Or put differently “It takes a grinding wheel to sharpen a blade, and so one person sharpens the character of another” (tPt).

God’s holiness is His beauty. It is what causes the heavenly host to cry “Holy! Holy! Holy!” continually before His throne. We, the body of Christ, are made in His image and have been purposefully designed to have the ability to display this holiness, this glory, in the earth. To make what is invisible visible to an unbelieving world.

God has given us everything we need in order to achieve His command of holiness. He has given us His Word which is the mirror into which we gaze and see Jesus, the hope of glory, revealed within us. He gives us enabling grace to apply His Word and do things we could never do on our own. And He has given us covenant relationships which serves as the practice ground to earth and practically live out what He reveals to us through His Word.

Now it’s up to us take up the responsibility to pursue holiness and shine the light of hope, glory and beauty, like a city on a hill.