DEUTERONOMY 32:48-52 – That very day the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel for a possession. And die on the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel. For you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel.”

THEME OF THE DAY. HOLY, HOLY, HOLY. What is the first thought that comes into our minds when we think on God? Is it His mercy in forgiving us? His patience as He deals with us? His incredible love to us? All those are wonderful attributes and actions of God. And when it comes to Christianity, the message is one of mercy, patience, love and a host of other soul-satisfying truths about God.

But there is one area talked a lot about in Christian circles and something we need to grasp about God. It is His love. God is love but it is not like human love, and unless coupled with His holiness, we will lead ourselves to build a wrong view of His love. For sure, love is the message of the Gospel and Bible. However, the dominant theme in the Bible is not God’s love. It is His holiness. The mention of God’s holiness appears over 600 times in the scriptures. Our first thought on God should be His holiness. That is not at the expense of His love but it must be the foremost area that governs our thinking. God is love, but it is holy love. And if we don’t start with His holiness in defining Himself and particularly, His love, we will not only build a wrong understanding of His love, but three other things will happen and damage our spiritual lives.

First, if God’s holiness does not control our thinking of Him, then we will go soft on sin. If we make His love the chief area we dwell on, our sinfulness and bent toward spiritual laziness will produce a light view of sin. And where light views of sin occur, so will wrong views of God. Should wrong views of God occur, we will tolerate sin, justify disobedience, and default saying, “God is love” and ignore the seriousness of sin in the eyes of Him who is holy, holy, holy. It is true. We do take for granted those we love and without holiness in our understanding of God’s love, we will presume upon Him too.

Another thing will occur if we don’t allow God’s holiness to shape our understanding and thoughts of Him. We will lose the healthy fear of Him. Look at today’s scripture and the consequence to Moses of not recognizing God’s holiness. He was forbidden to enter the promised land. It may seem like a severe consequence, but God takes very seriously His holiness. He will not let such neglect go without notice and consequence. Even in His own children. Even in a Moses. And where the holiness of God doesn’t steer our Christian life, the fear of God is weak. Without His fear, we won’t learn to hate and avoid all sin while seeing it for what it is. Like the first point, remove the fear of God, resulting from recognizing His holiness, and we develop a wrong picture of God and His love.

A final thing will occur if we fail to let God’s holiness dominate our thinking and guide our lives. Our obedience will not be a passion sought with faithfulness, diligence and consistency. Should God give us a glimpse of His holiness, it will humble us, empty us of ourselves, and align our understanding of life under the single objective; we live to obey Him for His good pleasure. The Bible says, “Strive for holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). “To strive” means to obey and the obedient Christian is the one who will truly know and experience Christ’s love and grow in holiness as we are commanded to do.

PRAYER: “Father, help me daily to hallow Your name; to recognize it as holy, holy, holy.”

QUOTE: “The chief attribute or essence of God in the Bible is not His love but His holiness which makes His love holy”