Chances are, your mama makes you clean your room. I’m a mama that does that. I have two little girls and the process usually goes something like this: They go in and “clean.” I come behind them, open their closet doors, look under the bed, and find that they didn’t really clean. They just crammed all their junk into the closet or under the bed, where it’s hidden, but not gone. 

It’s kind of like our lives. We want to clean ourselves up for Jesus, but a lot of times we try and hide sin. We don’t want Him to see it! But He wants us to be clean; to be holy. So He comes in and helps us clean out under the bed or in our closet. Problem is, it doesn’t stay clean. Your room gets messy again, right? You have to keep cleaning it, and keep working on it. Sometimes the mess builds up, but you shouldn’t turn into a hoarder and let it pile up. You keep working on it with Him. He keeps working on you, even when the sin makes a mess. It’s a continual process. 

DOCTRINE 10

If you’re a soldier, then you signed a covenant stating that you agree with The Salvation Army’s doctrines. Doctrine 10 says, “We believe that it is the privilege of all believers to be wholly sanctified, and that their whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is the only doctrine of The Salvation Army that quotes directly from Scripture. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 says, “Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.” We believe that ALL believers have the privilege and possibility to be completely *sanctified. All believers can be holy. It is what God wants from us. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must be holy because I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:16). God is holy and He created us in His image. When we live in holiness, we become more and more like Jesus, who was and is the true image of God.

HOLINESS DEFINED

Holiness, in its simplest definition, is to be set apart, to be different. It comes from the Hebrew words qadash and the Greek word hagios, which translate as “to be set apart.” Holiness means that we do our very best to stay away from anything that would pull us away from Jesus, anything that would defile us. Holiness isn’t about following a set of rules, a way to earn our salvation, or even something that happens instantly when we get saved. It’s not about being better than other people. It’s not something only a few people can do. It’s for everyone. Holiness is a choice we make, to be dedicated to God, to put away the things that would pull us from Him. It’s a process, a journey that we walk on with the help of the Holy Spirit, everyday walking wisely to be more and more like Jesus.

Sanctification means “the crisis and process by which the Christian’s life and character become Christlike, through the work of the Holy Spirit.”

THE FAITH HALL OF FAME

What does that look like, though? When you think about holiness, it’s easy and tempting to think that it’s impossible and that we shouldn’t even try. That’s not true. Take a look at some Biblical examples. Whenever I think of people in the Bible who were holy, my mind automatically goes to the Faith Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11. All kinds of people are listed there: Noah, Abraham, Moses, Rahab, David. Were they perfect? No way! Noah got overwhelmed at the task before him, so instead of relying on God, he got drunk. Abraham didn’t trust God’s timing, so he slept with a woman who wasn’t his wife and got her pregnant. Moses killed a guy. Rahab was a prostitute. David killed a guy to cover up the fact that he slept with the guy’s wife. 

Do these sound like perfect people to you? Nope. But there they are, in the Hall of Fame. There’s a lesson in there for us. We’re going to mess up, there’s no way around that. What do we do when we mess up though? Do we just say “Well, I’m never going to be perfect, I’ve messed up, there’s no point in even trying?” Or do we repent, learn from our mistakes, and do our best to walk with God? King David was called a man after God’s own heart (1Samuel 13:14). We know David made a ton of mistakes, but when he was confronted with his sin, he repented and did his best to walk with God. God wants us to walk with Him, to repent when we stumble, and to keep moving forward with Him on this journey. That’s what holiness is about.

A LESSON FROM SNOT

Now, let’s be real. That doesn’t mean you should feel free to do whatever you want and ask forgiveness for it later. You’ve got to make every effort to remove yourself from anything that threatens to defile you. The problem is that a lot of times, the mess of the world is so sly that we don’t even realize it’s affecting us. The music we listen to, the shows we watch, the things we think or do when we’re with friends who aren’t good for us—all of these things affect us and we often don’t even realize it. Let me share a gross example with you. Just hang with me. In 2002, I had the opportunity to go to Chile with the Salvationist Service Corps. Chile is a beautiful country. There are gorgeous mountains and coastlines and it really is amazing. After a week or so there, I was feeling kind of stuffy and so I blew my nose, which isn’t really a big thing, until I looked at the tissue and saw that it was full of black, dirty…stuff. It really freaked me out. Turns out that, in the time period we were there, the air in Chile was full of pollution, which we were breathing in. You couldn’t see it. You couldn’t feel it. But the evidence of it was there, in my snot. It’s the same way with sin, with the things that defile us. Often times, we don’t even see it. We can’t feel it. But the evidence is in our lives. We can’t fill ourselves with garbage and expect holiness to come out. We have to set ourselves apart. We have to avoid sin, so that it doesn’t pollute our souls.

EVERY DECISION COUNTS

That doesn’t mean that you have to hide yourself away and become a monk. It simply means that in every decision, in every aspect of our lives, we set ourselves apart. We can’t compartmentalize ourselves so that we are one way in church and one way at school, at home or with our friends. To be holy is to be the same no matter where we are, to be one person, reflecting Jesus.

HOLINESS QUIZ

Answer these five questions with either true or false.

1.  You can’t be both holy and cool.
2.  Holiness is a journey.
3.  Holiness is possible.
4.  Holy people don’t sin.
5. Our doctrine says that all believers can be holy.