“Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness”

Psalm 29:2

CBS, which broadcast the Grammy Awards show sponsored by Pfizer last Sunday night, posted and then removed a tweet that promoted the controversial performance of the hit song “Unholy” by Sam Smith and Kim Petras. Prior to the performance, Smith tweeted the caption “This is going to be SPECIAL”, to which, according to the Christian Post, a CBS verified account replied “you can say that again. We are ready to worship!”

I can only guess that the “we” in the reply meant everyone watching the event, and the object of their worship was definitely unholy. I was not one of those watching. Not necessarily because of this one performance. I haven’t watched the Grammys in years because I am a part of the bride of Christ. As His bride, I choose to be HOLY instead.

Why does holiness matter for the bride? Because it is a consecration – I am His and He is mine! It is holiness that sets us apart from the ordinary to the extraordinary! Less and less we are wrapped up in pleasing man and worrying what others may think. More and more our hearts tune into pleasing Him and only Him. It is in this gradual process of dross removal that we enter into a greater realm of worshiping God in spirit and in truth.

You may have heard it said God cannot tolerate sin in His presence. Consider that it may be the opposite. Because He is holy, sin cannot tolerate being in the presence of a holy God.

To give you an example of the picture I’m trying to paint, think of a submarine. The deeper a submarine goes down, the greater the risk that it is crushed by the pressure and weight of the surrounding water. So in like fashion, the closer sin gets to the presence of Holy God, the more it also is crushed by the glorious pressure and weight of His holiness.

When we choose to believe in Him and accept Him as our Savior, His holiness is imputed to us, enabling us to stand in His presence without the pressure of His holiness crushing us. Through the redemptive work of Christ, for the first time people are free to be holy as He is holy. Our direct connection and fellowship with Him have been restored, whereas before this was not possible.

In The Passion Translation weekly devotional by Brian Simmons and Gretchen Rodriguez I read “Nothing is more pleasurable to the human heart than the love of Jesus. Nothing is more delightful. Nothing can compare to the caresses of his love – it awakens our hearts in the most unexpected ways. It makes us feel alive and fills us with joy… Once we taste of this love, we know that nothing else could ever fulfill us.”

In the progression of working out the holiness He has given, we should never let go of our passion to be holy in His eyes, allowing it to become a sacred obsession that sets us apart from others!

To choose to be holy is to choose life. Will you choose life with me today?