What does it mean to live holy?

Hello everyone

So what does it mean to live holy? Without holiness none shall see the Lord, so we can say that this is something that God is looking for. Is it something we are looking for? How do we go about this? What has God provided for us that we may live in a way that is holy? What say you?

To me it just means to live your life as belonging to Him and not to the world (as you previously lived before you met Him.)

It isn't a zap-you're-holy kind of thing. Your mind has to be renewed/changed on many things you were taught by parents, teachers and the world. You have to make choices all the time to go with what God has said rather than what the world says. And when you do make those choices on who to believe and follow - the world or God - you show your holiness/belonging to Him. Or, conversely, when you side with the worlds wisdom on some matter rather than on what God has said, you show there is more work He has to do concerning you because you haven't died to the world completely yet.

I don't think holy means perfect. I think it just means belonging to God, siding with God, agreeing with God.

But there are many places where we are not standing firm and are following the worlds wisdom and aren't aware of it until He shows us our doublemindedness. For instance, worry over money and provision and storing treasure. And when He shows us, a battle usually ensues in which the world, the devil and our own flesh try to pull us back.

Keep one's self unspotted from the world in thought and in deed. Amen.

I guess I can think of a sort of example. I did some work for a woman. When I gave her the bill, she insisted that I was charging her more than I said I would. She wanted to pay me my wages for one day instead of the three days the job took. She said I hadn't made it clear to her that it was a certain amount per day and that it would take three days. (I had made it very clear, but she was trying to get out of the wages.) I knew in that instant that I didn't need to argue or fight over money and that God would take care of my needs. So I said I was sorry for the misunderstanding and that I would be fine with her giving me whatever she thought was fair. And I really meant it. I didn't say it begrudgingly, but with joy that God would take care of me.

So in that moment, I sided with God instead of what the world has taught me I should do in that situation - fight for my rights, demand my payment - and I refused to argue or worry.

She had a shocked look on her face that I was cheerfully not going to argue or be mad at her. She wrote me a check for the entire three days. Then she apologized.

IF you believe yourself to be 'called and chosen', then the 'writing is on your wall'...
The Holy Spirit doesn't play games!!!

Many folks are stymied by the word, holy. Basically it means separate, apart, peculiar.

For my thinking, being holy is being separated from this age in spirit and whenever possible, physically. As is written we would have to leave this world to be uttery separated, but we live in the manner of being peculiar wheter we know it or know when we truly believe Jesus Christ.

God is holy so we will be holy. Also we dedicate ourselves to our blessed Savior, but this is our new nature.All blessings peculiar ones.......j

If the Holy Spirit leads us and we submit our life and will to Him, then we are Holy Saints separated from the world. If we try to add the Holy Spirit to ourselves and try to be our own masters, then we have fooled our self.

Romans 12 New International Version (NIV)
A Living Sacrifice
12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conformto the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

If we see holy from an OT perspective...set apart, peculiar..etc...we must also see that there are a lot of groups that meet that criteria. The Jews themselves have never stopped being different from the rest of the world. They seek to follow ordinances outwardly that are written of in the bible (mixed in with many TRADITIONS). Then there's the peculiar Amish who are so distinctive that they don't get entangled with the modern world. They do this as worship to God. Motive wise...these would appear outwardly commendable.

So if we are to see holy as something outward...then the Jews and the Amish are the way to go! No evangelical can compete with that.

But in the NT, holiness is about something within us AND among us...if we are truly walking by the Holy Spirit. Holiness becomes power and character.

Holiness in power means we walk as Jesus walked...having authority as He had. It means entering into Zion where fellowship with Jesus keeps us in the presence of God. It is the power of eternal life (a kind of life) which is found by abiding in Christ. Paul exercised that authority when he demonstrated the kingdom life in his ministry. So then LIFE in Christ IS holiness. The power and life that flow from the holy one (saint) spills into the world. This life is without sin...no spot or wrinkle. There is no such thing as a sinful holiness. This is a construct of our times and is very evil. It marks the infiltration into the churches of the great delusion...sent by God to they who love not the truth.

Holiness in character comes about by spending time in the presence of a holy God. It changes our way of thinking...and being! It renews our minds so that we grow into the likeness of Christ. This process involves going in and out of the Spirit. It is like breathing...in and out. As long as we are abiding in Christ we are filled with His life so that no sin can come in. When we come out from abiding IN Him we may yet follow His voice and be led by the Spirit...MY sheep know My voice...since He is also abiding in us. So whether we are presently abiding in Him or not...yet He remains in us. While we are IN Him overcoming sin is easy...His burden is light. But coming out from under His immediate covering is like coming out from behind a semi truck at high speed on the highway....we get the full force of the wind to combat. That is how we develop in maturity.

The meaning of the word Holy in Greek is, separated and dedicated, as some have suggested. The way we are speaking of means separated from the world and dedicated to God. Only He can do this with our cooperation.

What of your own experience...apart from dictionary meanings? After all we all have the same access to dictionaries.

But we also have access to the power of God (grace). What is your experience of that?

Obey the commands of Jesus

It does not appear that all make use of access to dictionaries,
Grace means unmerited favor. I am 79 years old. My experience with grace or even my beginning salvation experience will not fit in this setting. If you want to ask a specific question, I will be glad to try to answer.

But at what level? The best we can...or perfectly as Jesus did? What does the grace of God allow us to do?

This thread is going in the direction of grace...the power unto holiness.

Don't use the vessel of your body which has been set apart for divine service to God to serve profane or common purposes. The same way you don't use mom's best china reserved for special occasions to eat a chili dog. We all know what happens if we do that.

The best you can

For example: "The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body."-1 Corinthians 6:13

The vessel of your body was 'set apart' (made holy) for honor, not the dishonor of sexual immorality. Vessels set apart and reserved for service in the temple of God are not to be defiled by being used for unclean and profane or common purposes. They have been set apart (made holy) for service to God, not in service of man's evil purposes.

Ahh...that did not work for me and I don't recommend it.
The harder I tried as best I could to be good, to stop murdering, to stop having fits of hurt pride at how I was treated - the worse it got for me.

I struggled to be good for many years. I never could be good. Eventually someone bumped into me and what I was carrying in my heart spilled out.

15 “If you love me, obey[d] my commandments.