Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”** 1 Peter 1:13-16 (NIV)**
God is not deformed by any evil. He is separate from all that is impure or stained and has not the least contagion, blemish or taint of sinfulness or wickedness. Pure, unblemished holiness is He. Every action from His Hand remains free from all evil and is perfect in holiness and power, in wisdom and might. Indeed, all perfections rest secure in Him, He is not destitute of one. To be certain, He is all light and no darkness. The angels continually cry out “Holy, Holy, Holy” in His Presence. He Himself states of Himself in Leviticus 11:44 (NIV): “I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.” His holiness stands as a pledge to all of His promises in Scripture. And nothing is decreed by Him or acted upon by Him that is not consistent with the beauty of His pure holiness. Believers can rest secure in His holiness even if perhaps we cannot understand His ways. We are told in Deuteronomy 33:12 (NIV): “Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders."
Charnock writes: “Power is His Hand, Omniscience His eye, Mercy His heart, eternity His duration, but holiness His beauty. It renders Him lovely and gives beauty to all His attributes, the life of all His decrees, and the brightness of all His actions…all is consistent with the beauty of His holiness.”
We can so often be pulled away from our pursuits of holiness by the riptide of the madness of our present world causing us to fall away and blend with the world and all its folly. We can easily get on the world’s level rather than seeking to bring it up to ours. Yet, all believers in sweet Jesus are called to the great pursuit of holiness – denying self and following hard after Him. When we begin wallowing with the world, there quickly becomes very little difference in the believers in Jesus and the world and its ways. And believers have no excuse as we have been given the Holy Spirit to equip us to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord Jesus. We do have the power to “shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life,” as Paul writes in Philippians 2:15B-16A (NIV). When we choose to blend with the world we bring both ourselves and others in our spheres of influence much harm.
Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”** Revelation 4:8 (NIV)**