Asia

Set Apart to God in Holiness – Part 3 in a series: Broken, Submitted and Set Apart

by Lisa Hall, international prayer coordinator for TWR Women of Hope

“Oh, God, show me more of your holiness. Show me more of my sinfulness. Help me to hate sin and to love righteousness as you do. Grant me a deeper conviction of sin and a more thorough spirit of repentance. And make me holy as you are holy.” - Nancy Leigh DeMoss in Holiness

What comes to mind when you hear that God wants you to be “holy”? I remember pondering that question many years ago and becoming discouraged. I knew there was no way I could be holy in my own power, and I wondered if I even wanted to live a holy life. If I pursued holiness, would God ask me to give up all the things that I enjoy?

Sometimes we don’t understand what God is asking of us. If we don’t accurately comprehend what holiness means to God, we miss out on joining him on a beautiful path that brings purpose and fulfillment to our lives. Holiness is God’s path to make us like himself. It is a process in every believer’s life that God initiates but that also requires our cooperation. God enables us to obey him in love, but we must also choose to obey and follow his will. I’m so glad that I chose to say “Yes” to God’s invitation to become like him!

The last few months we’ve been talking about embracing a lifestyle of brokenness, submission and being set apart to God in holiness. We are broken when we come to see our sin through God’s eyes. As we deeply grieve our sin and see what it has done to our relationship with him, we determine to not commit that sin again. We then choose to submit ourselves to God and yield everything we are to him because we are so grateful for how he has forgiven, loved and saved us.

In this state of gratitude and love, we choose to be set apart to God in holiness. As we purposefully commit to keep our lives pure and to seek a life of intimacy with him, we are committing to God just as a husband and wife come together in a covenant relationship. We are preferring God and choosing him above all else. In doing so, we discover that choosing holiness actually opens the door to live the life that God created us to live! We begin to understand our purpose in life, find true fulfillment and learn how to use our God-given gifts. So how do we live this life of holiness?

We make choices every day. Are we going to live this day for God, or are we going to choose our own way? To live set apart to God, he must have our hearts and our minds. The apostle Paul shared, “Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Col. 3:1b-2). He also said, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think” (Rom. 12:2a).

As we daily yield our hearts and minds to God, we are being united with him and he begins to build his beautiful characteristics in us. God will walk us through a process of removing certain things from our lives and embracing others – “since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Col. 3:9-10). God gives us the desire to embrace his godly qualities and to die to the things of our flesh.

As we yield to him our minds and hearts, God gives us the strength and discernment to choose his godly path. How do we live a life set apart to God in holiness? By following God in obedience one choice at a time.