Stop trying to be holy

If we practice “law living” we point at ourselves with an accusing finger – “not good enough – try harder!” We cannot help but compare ourselves to others to see if we are keeping up appearances. The Devil laughs, for though we think we are getting “more holy” he knows we are  setting our mind on the flesh and are actually a stench in God’s nostrils.

So we have a choice. We keep trying to better ourselves and to be holy, which of course repels God away from us…or we capitulate and agree with Scripture that we are already as holy and blameless as we will ever be.

Can we become more holy than Jesus Christ? Obviously not. Then why are we even trying to be holy? Jesus is our holiness! Any other holiness is self attained and is dross and rubbish to God. It is like the man who looked over his flock to choose a suitable lamb to sacrifice for his many sins. Instead of choosing the perfect lamb, the One without blemish or spot, he chooses a weak, lame, blotched lamb and offers that to God.

When Israel were shown in the Law of Moses to offer a lamb without spot or blemish, it was to typify Jesus Christ the perfect Lamb of God. When a man brought his lamb to the priest an exchange occurred symbolically. The sins of the man were put upon the animal before it was killed through confession and laying on of hands. In exchange for his sins the perfection of the young, perfect(sinless)lamb was transferred to the man’s account.

The guilty one went away justified and made righteous through the perfection of the lamb he had offered.

This is what God did with our sin. All our failure to keep the Law, all our falling short of the perfection that God’s law demands was put upon Jesus Christ when He willingly became our sacrifice.

All the perfection, holiness and right standing with God that belonged to Jesus was transferred to our account the moment we believed in Him. We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

He did not make us righteous so that we would turn around and say, ‘Thanks Lord, I am righteous so now I am going to try really hard to stay righteous’. No! We are made righteous and holy so we can REST from all our self effort.

Being holy is something we need to accept as a done deal, a finished work…it is not something we work at doing.

Give Jesus thanks today for His holiness and His righteousness because He is both of these God qualities in you.