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“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?” Exodus 15:11

There is a song we sing at my church (co-written by one of our music ministers, along with Shane & Shane) called Wholly Yours (Ephesians 3:18-19)—you can listen to it here. The words are very powerful, for sure, but it made me start thinking even more about who God is…and who we are to be because of who He is—and what He’s done.

God is holy—and only God. In Hebrew, the word for holy is “godesh”, meaning “apartness, sacredness, or separateness.” It’s used over 400 times in the Old Testament to describe God as completely holy, sacred, set apart, and separate from His creation.¹ He is God, and we are not. That’s why the greatest offense to our Holy God is when people elevate anything or anyone (including ourselves) above Him.

As believers, we could literally spend all our prayer and worship time simply praising God for His “set-apartness”—for His glory, majesty, and greatness (1 Chronicles 29:11; Psalm 97:1-6; Psalm 145:5; Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:11). We can sing hymns of His holiness written throughout the generations, from Moses to the Puritans to Chris Tomlin. And we all need to do just that on a regular basis!

In addition to our response of praise to God for His holiness, there is a second response—a necessary outflow that comes from acknowledging this unfathomable attribute of God: a desire to be wholly His. Not only does the overwhelming majesty of His creation cause us to drop our jaws in awe and wonder, but His absolute above-all-ness ought to also drop us to our knees in submission from the sheer weight of His glory.

See, we were created to be in union with Him. But, because of sin, that eternal communion was broken—we could no longer be in the presence of a perfectly holy God. Separation ensued, and death entered the world. But God. In order to reconcile Himself to us, God sent Jesus to live a perfectly holy life (that we couldn’t live), die the death we deserve (because of God’s perfect righteousness), and rise in victory to forever defeat sin and death. When we surrender to Jesus as Lord and Savior, we are wrapped in His robe of righteousness. In other words, when God looks at us, He sees the holiness of Jesus.

Jesus made a way of reconciliation. We were dead, and now we are alive in Christ. We were DEAD! Not “bad” made “good”…not merely “dirty” made “clean”…dead made alive. Now we are co-heirs with Christ, recipients of the boundless riches of God’s grace (Ephesians 2:1-10).

Through the holiness of Jesus, we are made holy in the eyes of our holy God. It’s truly mind-blowing. So, let me ask you this: If you have accepted this gift of forgiveness, mercy, and saving grace from our holy God, have you given yourself wholly to Him in response?

“Lord, if I am holding back forgiveness, mercy, or any part of myself from You—whether idolatry of another, of stuff, or of self—I turn away from that now! I surrender wholly to You, for You are holy.”

For His Glory

Julianne Winkler Smith
TRBC Women’s Life