Holiness: God Did His Part – Now Go Do Yours

We may be holy, but we have to walk in that holiness. That’s the part God asks us to play in the imputed holiness equation. God said to the Israelites, and by extension, he says to you and me, “Keep all my decrees by putting them into practice, for I am the Lord who makes you holy.” (Lev. 20:7) We have to live practically what God has done theologically, working out what God has worked in. In other words, we have to take what God has done and advance it in our daily lives. As God himself says “Set yourselves apart to be holy.”

The Journey // Focus: Leviticus 20:7-8

So set yourselves apart to be holy, for I am the Lord your God. Keep all my decrees by putting them into practice, for I am the Lord who makes you holy.

“Set yourselves apart to be holy.” That exhortation foreshadows what Paul taught in Philippians 2:12-13, “Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”

God has done what only he can do—he has redeemed us and set us apart for his pleasure, purpose, and glory. He has made us holy. Positionally—that is our legal standing before the just God of the universe—we are as holy as we can ever be, because we stand in the imputed holiness of Jesus Christ.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Positionally, that is what we are—holy! Progressive holiness—now that is another story. But the good news is, God has empowered us to live up to Christ’s work of imputed holiness in our lives by placing within us his very own Holy Spirit—emphasis on “Holy”—to enable us to live in a way that pleases him.

We have a part to play in this: We may be holy, but we have to walk in it. We have to live practically what God has done theologically. We have to work out what God has worked in. We have to take what God has done and advance it in our daily lives.

We have been made holy—now we must choose the things that are consistent with holiness. We have been empowered to obey—we must choose obedience. We have been blessed—now we must choose to walk worthy of God’s blessings. God has worked, and is now working in us to give us not only the will to, but the want to live as his holy people.

Now we’ve got some working out and walking in to do!