Come boldly, not carelessly
Martha Olawale
Leviticus 19:2 says, "Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel and say unto them: ‘Ye shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
God has been dealing with me on holiness for a while. Although I’ve been a Christian since I was fifteen and made God’s grace my blanket, the stirring in my soul leaves me asking, “Does grace erase my need for holiness?” Also, “Did Christ’s death reduce God’s love for righteousness?”
As I read through the Old Testament, I see God’s desire for how He wants His people to live. He tried rules, commandments, judges, and kings to get them to live right, but the haughtiness of the human spirit wrestles with that. God couldn’t be more explicit than He was when He told Moses in Leviticus 19:2, “Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel and say unto them: ‘Ye shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”
The idea that grace somehow reduces God's holiness is not just false; it's dangerous, and many Christians have bought into it. We hide behind grace instead of living by grace. God is still God and an equal part of the Trinity, and Christ's life, death, and ascension did not dethrone Him or erase His call to His people to live holy. Grace strengthens my resolve to come boldly to the throne to obtain mercy and help in times of need (Hebrews 4:16). Grace is not for me to wallow in my dirt but for me to receive strength to live free from my dirt, so I can be the picture God saw when He created humanity.
Change is not part of God's nature, and our salvation ticket does not cloud the beauty of His glory. He said in Malachi 3:6, "For I am the Lord, I change not." He can't change who He is, but our redemption leads us through transformation. We need to change; God does not; He loves clean, and if we love God, we will desire to live as He loves to see us live.
God is righteous and orderly. When we relegate His call to pursue holiness to the abyss of our minds, we embrace a primitive nature that should be buried at the foot of the cross. Christ's death gives us the power to live holy, not carelessly. Grace is a gift that empowers us to live up to God’s expectations, not lower His expectations of humanity.
Peter's words in 1 Peter 1:15, under the new covenant, not the old, are a powerful reminder of the need to seek to walk in righteousness. He said, "But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation." This call to holiness should inspire and motivate us in our daily lives. We are saved by grace, to live by grace, so we can approach God boldly, as He desires to see us.
