By Sidharth Mohandas

As I was traveling in the train two days ago the Lord was speaking to me on holiness. A topic that is very less spoken of in contemporary churches. Today if someone hears the word “holy” or “holiness” the things that usually come to their mind are long dresses, the length of the hair, no make-up and rules like “you can’t watch TV”, “you can’t play games”, “you can’t dance” and the list goes on. These legalistic views on holiness have led people to forget and neglect the essence of true holiness.

Scripture is crystal clear on the issue of holiness. It says: “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord” [Hebrews 12:14]

That indeed is a strong statement! If the topic of holiness is so important, I believe we need to give serious thought to it. So let’s start with the question: What is holiness or what does it mean to be holy? Let’s consider the Greek word used for the word “holy”…it is the word “hagios”. The word “hagios” means “to be separate” or “to be set apart”. To be separate or set apart from what? Of course from conforming to the world’s system and it’s standards. We are to think, speak and act in accordance to a higher system or dimension. However, if you have tried living holy as I have, I’m sure you’ll come up with the conclusion within: “That is so dry, so lifeless, so frustrating, sucks the joy out of you! “. Do you know why you and I feel that way? Because that is not the essence of holiness.

Holiness is seen best in the system of marriage. What is the system of marriage? Here it is:

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. [Genesis 2:24]

Most of us are doing just the first part of this. We’re trying our best to leave things that are displeasing to the Lord…but we have missed out on the second more important part : to be united with the Lord in intimacy. How would a Bride feel if all she did was keep away from other men and never got intimate with her bridegroom and consummate the marriage? That would be nothing more than frustrating! Well, this is what many of us are doing! It is intimacy with the Lord that makes holiness enjoyable. And when you find pleasure in Him and true intimacy, you will want to leave more things that will keep you away from cleaving more to Him!

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. [Ephesians 5:25-27]

I encourage you to discover this important aspect of holiness. When God called you to eternal life, it was His invitation to enter into His life as His intimate partner, as His love, His pleasure, but that’s not all… you can enjoy Him, He will give you pleasure and will involve Himself in every detail of your life.