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The Third Sunday of Lent - Holiness

1 Chronicles 16:23-29 (ESV)
23  Sing to the LORD, all the earth! Tell of his salvation from day to day.
24  Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!
25  For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and he is to be feared above all gods.
26  For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
27  Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his place.
28  Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!
29  Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness;

It isn't always easy to get a grasp of the theme of holiness.  
God is holy.
God gave expression to His holiness when he had the Holy of Holies designated within the Tabernacle and the Temple as separate areas...not to be treated casually, and only to be entered into by the High Priest, once a year.
Isaiah saw God in his holiness...
Isaiah 6:1-5 (ESV)
1  In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.
2  Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
3  And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
4  And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
5  And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Everytime someone comes face to face with God's Holy character they realize the great chasm between their own nature and His.  Perhaps that's a good beginning point.  God is different, yet He has reached out to us to bring Us to Himself.  The movement is from our nature - full of the flesh, everything tainted by sin - towards God's perfection.  
NOW, to be clear, this cannot happen through our own efforts, as if somehow we can become religious enough to become Holy.  That has been tried, and it has always failed.  It leads to a religious nature of legalistic qualities and Jesus had much to say against that style of so called "holy" lifestyle.  
The qualities of holiness are the work of the Spirit of God that gives us awareness of the flesh within and then shows us the path away from that towards God's grace.  I'm going to write on that more this week...for now, 
let us 'worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness'.

Peace


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