Holy! Now there’s an interesting word.

The Hebrew term is qadosh and the Greek word is hagios. I’m neither a Hebrew nor a Greek scholar, but at the heart of these words is the idea of being set apart—something or someone separated from common use and devoted to God.

I have more than one brush. I use one to brush my hair, another to brush my teeth, and another to clean my toilet. Each one is set apart for a particular purpose. I don’t use my toothbrush to clean the toilet, and I certainly don’t brush my teeth with the toilet wand! They may all be brushes, but they are not interchangeable. Each has been designated for a particular use.

That simple picture helps us understand something about holiness.

When God redeemed us, He did more than forgive our sins. He claimed us for Himself. He separated us from the old life and set us apart for a new one. We belong to Him now. We have been brought into His family and called to serve His purposes in the world.

That is why holiness should never be reduced merely to a list of things Christians do not do. Holiness certainly involves separation from sin, but its greater emphasis is separation unto God. I am not holy merely because there are places I do not go or things I will not do. I am holy because I belong to God, and because I belong to Him, there are places I do not go, things I do not do, and purposes for which I live.

Peter writes, “But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct” (1 Peter 1:15). Paul says that we are “His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Ephesians 2:10).

God did not simply separate us from something; He separated us for something.

A toothbrush sitting unused in a drawer may be separated from the toilet brush, but separation alone does not fulfill its purpose. It was made to be used for what it was set apart to do. In the same way, Christian holiness is not withdrawal from the world merely for the sake of being different. We have been set apart from the world so that we can belong to God and serve His purposes within it.

Holiness, then, is not simply about what I have left behind.

It’s about Who I now belong to, what He has set me apart to become, and the purpose He has called me to fulfill. ©

–PGR