A new Barna Research Group study revealed that “One Out of Five Americans Holy” – or at least that they consider themselves holy. Interestingly, about the same number of people in the study, presumably not the same group, could not define what holiness is.

The highest number that had an idea said “being Christ-like” (19 percent), while 18 percent said “making faith your top priority.”

Although I don’t agree with everything the Brethren believe, the article Pursuing Holiness Today does an excellent job of defining and describing personal holiness in today’s world.

What is holiness?

The word “holy” comes from the same Hebrew root as sanctify or sanctification. It means “unique, different, or separate.” God is unique, different, and separate—and He requires the same for those who are called by His name.

God hates sin. When someone sins, that sin ultimately reaches Jehovah’s throne because we are made by Him and we are to live for His glory. Therefore we are answerable to Him (1 Peter 4:5). God has the right to judge sin and to punish sinners. Our sinfulness is an affront to His holiness. “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20).

Holiness is deciding not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies (Romans 6:11-12). Holiness in life is a recurring theme in the New Testament. Holiness in life is much more important than the gifts and abilities that we have been given, and holiness is much more important than the number of church activities that we engage in.

How can we achieve it?

The Bible teaches that there is an unequal yoke between the Christian and the world. The two don’t match. They can’t go together. They are going in different directions. We believe that by the grace of God each of us has become a “temple of the living God” (2 Corinthians 6:16). Our bodies are now the place where God dwells —the resting place of His presence. And for that reason we are called to separate from our old ways of living.

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The Christian is called to a life of separation—from the old ways of life and from close association with those who still live by the world’s standards. It does not mean that we can no longer have friends who are non-Christian. In fact we are to pursue such relationships, but we must be aware that we might be enticed into our old ways of living, and tarnish our testimony.

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Sometimes we emphasize justification to the exclusion of sanctification. In other words, we put so much emphasis on being in the family that we forget that we are supposed to be growing in the likeness of our older Brother. But here it says that one of our Christian duties is to cleanse ourselves. In other words, we have a responsibility to watch over our own spiritual condition and to keep our lives clean.

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Pursuing holiness means self-denial and separation. I suspect that Israel did not make a conscious decision to depart from the living God, but over a period of time the Israelites simply wanted idols more than they wanted Jehovah. Most of us today cannot say that we have made a conscious decision to leave “the straight and narrow path,” but perhaps we are walking forward while looking backward. Perhaps we want Jesus and the nations. Perhaps we want pleasure and paradise.

Pursuing holiness means that our eyes are on Jesus and that our desire is to please Him. Romans 6:22 says that we reap holiness and gain eternal life when we become slaves to God. And elsewhere we read that without holiness “no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12: 14). Our key text says that we are to perfect holiness “in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1). All this is to say that we “call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work.” Therefore, we are to “pass the time of our sojourning here in fear” (1 Peter 1:17). We are strangers here, pilgrims here, and wandering through a barren land. Let us renew the commitment to our Master and once again set our sights heavenward.

Some things are simple, but not easy. Pursuing holiness is one of them. There are few huge moral decisions to agonize over. Most Christians – even new Christians – have a pretty good idea of what is right. The hard part is not identifying what is right, it’s deciding to do right. I hope the people who identified themselves in the Barna study as holy did so because the choices were limited. It’s fair to say that we are more holy than we were when we were first saved. In fact if that is not a true statement for you, then it is time to re-examine your salvation. But to believe that we will achieve that goal here on earth is incorrect. Pursuing holiness is sanctification – the race that we run. We will not be completely holy – free of sin – until we cross that finish line and meet the Author and Finisher of our faith.

Since I learned about the recent eco-Christian movement, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to a related movement that has bothered me for some time. American Christians – and I am one – seem to have an inordinate amount of time and money for Christian political causes, and now for Christian ecological causes. Politically, I’m very conservative, with libertarian leanings on very select issues, and I’m grateful to be American so I can speak out, and vote. But I’m amazed at the money, energy and time we put into things that have nothing to do with the Great Commission. Don’t misunderstand me: I’m guilty too. I just admitted spending $10 a month on Rhapsody, and there are countless other luxuries like that I could tally up if I tried. I spend 30-60 minutes a day on this blog that would better be spent praying. And I’ve marched, given money, written letters on various topics. I’d like to see abortion stopped. I’d like to see the Supreme Court stop doing Congress’s job and start doing their own, namely interpreting (not writing) our laws according to the Constitution (not laws from other countries). I’d like to see the restrictions on prayer in school lifted. And even though “under God” is a relatively recent addition to the Pledge, I like it there. But none, not one, of those agenda items will withstand the judgement our works will one day face.

Lately I feel that time is short, and stewardship is increasingly becoming a priority for me. Not the whole eco-movement that Daniel Partin very efficiently fisked over at Prophet for Hire. I simply mean spending the money, and maybe even more importantly – because money is so easy to part with – the time that God has entrusted to me, in a way that glorifies Him. Just something to think about… anybody else out there feeling convicted in this area?

You may notice the new link on the top left for Rhapsody. It occurred to me recently that I’ve been keeping a good thing to myself. I love music, mostly Christian music but also jazz (Miles Davis, Vince Guaraldi), blues (Bobby Bland), and (yes I know this is odd) old-school rap like the Sugar Hill Gang. I subscribed to this online music service in December of 2003 and have enjoyed it ever since. It’s the “celestial jukebox” we used to daydream about when I worked at America Online back in the early 1990s when I upgraded to a 14.4 connection! The ability to have a basically unlimited jukebox at my fingertips on any computer with an internet connection – and to download those songs to listen to offline at no extra charge – was a dream come true. Add the CD burning feature with a cheap per track rate so I could burn custom CDs and I was one happy camper. (If you love your iPod, yes, it works for that too, as well as over 100 other devices.) It’s lagniappe that it only costs $9.95 a month, because I used to spend a lot more than that on CDs that I only really loved half the tracks on. Now I can enjoy the music until I’m tired of it, and if I really have to have it in my car, I can buy it and put it on a CD for a buck a track.

The Christian section is extensive. If you want to do a little musical time traveling and listen to that old Keith Green song you used to love, it’s in there. So is Jadon Lavik, Casting Crowns and many other really great modern bands. And a boatload of praise and worship music from a variety of artists that you know and love. So click the Rhapsody button on the left or this link to try it out free for two weeks, and download five songs for free. And let me know how you like it!