Holiness

I have always had a certain idea as to what holiness meant, but since I read the book " The Rising of the Messianic Church" that has changed considerably !!!

The man who wrote the book says that we tend to be taught and we think that holiness and cleanliness are the same. He says that this is not true. Cleanliness has more to do with righteousness. Holiness , he says, should be defined as " special ; not common". He says that things that God considers holy are not to be treated as common, but are to be treated as special and made to be set apart from using them for ordinary things .

One example he gives is that our tithe is holy. The money that we tithe should not be treated the same way that the rest of our money is used - for day to day things.
That this money is for what God wants it to be used for and the upkeep of the church.
This is one of the reasons that when I get my paycheck, that I get my tithe out first and put it away, not allowing myself to be tempted to use it, even in emergency. It is holy, set apart for God's use.

The one scripture says that we are holy because He (Jesus) is holy. OR, we are special and made for a purpose other than the ordinary because Jesus lives in us.
That means that we are not made to be ordinary, with ordinary lives, but we are made to live extraordinary lives !!! We should not treat ourselves or other Christians as common, ordinary folk ! They (and us) are special (or holy)

He used an example, that God set the furnishing of the temple as holy. They were not made to be used for common everyday things. They were to be set apart to use in the ministry to and worship of the Lord. A priest would not wash his clothes in the brazen laver !!!

There is always a blessing attached to the treating things/people as holy. IF you consider ____ holy, then you will ________. It all depends on that it is that you are talking about.

The best example that he used was about the difference between everyday china and good china. Everyday china is used everyday, where the good china is used on special occasions, for special purposes and to honour special people. When the good china gets dirty, it is still special, even though there are bits of food on them. When we wash them we treat them different than the everyday china. We wash them separately and carefully as they are special. On the other hand, the everyday china is still common and ordinary dirty or clean. So, no matter if we are dirty or clean it does not take away from the fact that we are special and set apart for special purposes and time and God.

This really freed me from trying to "be holy", trying to clean up, striving.....
Yes, it is still important that we allow God to "clean " us up, but this is such a different way to see it !

Thank You God, that you made us special, with Your own hands . You love us and desire to see ourselves as made for a special purpose. We are NOT a common people, but extraordinary...