The holiness of God - Revisited

[George]

What comes to my mind when I think God is Holy?

This is a very difficult thing to comprehend. My mind is not equipped
to do this, in fact no human being is able to truly comprehend the
Holiness of God. However, here is a my attempt. I am thinking of
absolute perfection, and purity. I am thinking of a burning fire that
cannot be extinguished, that produces no combustion byproducts, where
no fuel is consumed, yet the energy is infinite.

I have been overcome by the mere thought of God's holiness on many
occassions. Most recently today. When I think about absolute
perfection forming man kind, even forming me, and how our purpose is
to glorify God and worship Him forever. I am struck by the infinite
difference between us and God. he is perfectly and infinitely pure, we
are evil, selfish, depraved. Yet the love God has poured out is also
perfect and pure (holy). This thought overwhelms me. I must learn to
revere, respect, and have a healthy fear of God. Regarding everythiing
that concerns Him as the highest priority of my life. I recently
heared a loved one (I even had a similar thought), "well I know is it
sin, I guess God will just have to forgive me." This is such a
terrible statement, disregarding the holiness of God. God is not
obligated to anyone, God is not obligated to save, to forgive or do
anything. A person who can take such a stand does not understand
anything about the holiness of God, and is in real danger of eternal
damnation. This is the real issue of whether someone is truly saved or
are they just a pretender

I have mixed feelings about the "attractiveness to God's holiness. On
one side I am fearful, and even dread approaching God because I know
my evil heart and how many time I fail daily to meet God's standards.
On the other hand I am drawn in by His love, and I am in awe of Him, I
want to be in His presence, I want to hear His voice, I want to
reflect on the absolute majesty and glory that are completely His.

I am troubled by the verse in Leviticus 11:44 "be holy for I the Lord
your God is Holy." it is like counting to infinity, or even
comprehending infinity. Knowing what I know about what dwells in my
heart and the thoughts that plague my mind, this seems impossible, yet
we are commanded to do this. I don't know how...but this requires
constant thriving and reaching out to God. I have to think about why
the Holy Spirit of God lives in us, is it just to make us feel good
about ourselves, or is there more.

We have been saved, born again, and are being conformed to the image
of Christ, the Holy Son of God. I have to think that the presence of
the Holy spirit is to teach us to become a holy people, as we move
through this life, learning to become more like Christ, regarding the
things of God as Sacred. But what is our definition of sacred. do we
even understand "sacred" ? For too long we have approached God as a
casual friend, a buddy of some sort. He is Holy, I should be fearful
of approaching Him in an unworthy manner, He could completely destroy
me and He would be justified to do so. Yet I am still drawn in, I am
required to be Holy, not as He is, but because He is. I have to be
Holy so that my worship is worthy and acceptable to Him. My worship is
a my response to His love, that He initiated when He called me out of
darkness and into His light. Because He is Holy, everything about my
approach to Him must be holy. I can only do this through the power and
work of the Holy Spirit of God who lives in me.