5 Steps to a Holy Life

“You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” (Leviticus 19:2 – ESV) If that isn’t a problem for you, let me confess that it is a problem for me. What can we do about living to such a high standard? If this was the only time we find this in scripture, we might find a way to wiggle out but this holy living expectation if found from Genesis to Revelation!

Photo by Andrew Dong on Unsplash

I firmly believe that God does not place an expectation upon us that he does not provide for! While holy living is a daily call, I have found a way to answer the call (and it’s not about me) and you can, too.

So, I will give you eight characteristics of holy living, five steps to get there and then four wonderful blessings of this life.

What does holy living look like?

A holy life has many characteristics. Here are eight prominent characteristics that are continually maturing in the holy life.

1. Love. God’s love in and through our life becomes so prevalent that many theologians make perfect love synonymous with holy living. You can read more about that love right here.
2. Obedience. I know this is not necessarily the most popular concept in our culture but holy living means we are following Jesus every day and are obedient to his perfect will for our lives. There is no disappointment in this obedience.
3. Power. As you will discover below, holy living is a consequence of have the Holy Spirit reside in your life. The Holy Spirit is God and has all his power which means the power of God resides in you as you live a life of holiness!
4. Intimacy. When we are holy, we have a perfect fellowship with God. He shares himself fully with us as we share ourselves fully with him. Throughout scripture, the imagery of husband and wife is used to illustrate the relationship with God and his people.
5. Devotion. By this, I mean we have a great desire to be in worship, to participate in prayer and be employed in the reading and study of the Bible. Devotion enriches our lives in ways that cannot even be measured.
6. Compassion. You cannot be participating in holy living and be mean spirited. Jesus is our greatest example of holy living and he had unending compassion for everyone. He was even grieved in his heart for his persecutors and forgave those who executed him as he hung from the cross!
7. Focus. Holy living gives a new focus in our lives. We recognize that all we do is for the purpose of God and the glory of God. We don’t follow every trend but only follow Jesus.
8. Purity. The holy life is a life that is free from sin. To be holy means to be fully separated for God’s purposes. We know that God is sinless. He uses the word holy to describe himself and his people.

How do we get the holy life? – in 5 Steps!

• Embrace the reality that God wants this for you. He told us directly throughout scripture that this is his expectation and standard. To deny it is to deny the word of God. That’s dangerous.
• Believe you can live the holy life. Faith is foundational to our entire life as followers of Jesus. So you must believe that holy living is possible for you.
• Consecrate your life. You must give yourself over completely to God. Romans 12:1 tells us to give our bodies to God as a living sacrifice. As you give yourself, ask God to make you holy. There must also be a continual consecration of your life – because your life is a continual adventure.
• Follow continually. Holy living is not attaining a status it is about a lifestyle of following Jesus unconditionally and unapologetically.
• Participate. Only God can make us holy but we participate in holy living. We must get rid of the stuff that is in the way of obedience. We allow him to inspect our lives, point out things that must go and then say yes and get rid of them!

Four blessings of holy living

The fruit of the Spirit. Imagine your life with the fruit of the spirit growing and maturing. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Who doesn’t want an increase in these areas?

Blessings on others. Holy living also means your life becomes a powerful and encouraging blessing on many others. God will use you in ways that you cannot even imagine to change the eternal destiny of people around you.

The presence of God. When we live a holy life, God is with us in a personal and powerful way. He is near and shares his insights with us and helps us to live the life he has called us to.

Eternal glory. When Paul was thinking about this life he said that we will experience an eternal glory that far outweighs any pain, persecution, ridicule and misunderstanding that we experience in this life (2 Corinthians 4:17).

Your Response

What do I want you to do?

Please, follow those five steps and begin to live the life you were called to. Experience the power of God in your life and follow Jesus! Pass this on to others so we can together truly change people’s lives forever!