Dog Doo and Pepé Le Pew

Last time we explored this fact; to completely understand God is impossible. While this is true, God has revealed Himself to us in ways we can understand. We may have to take some of his explanations on faith, but God hasn't kept Himself completely hidden from us. In Exodus 34:6-7 God actually describes himself to Moses, 

"And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, 'The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.'"

In these next few posts I want to look at these character traits of God; who He is by His own words. But today I want to look at all these together and combine them into one idea; holiness.
 In Leviticus 11:44 God is instructing the Israelites through Moses. He says,

"I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy , because I am holy."

The word holy is one that the Bible uses frequently to describe God and His actions, but also for things that are related to God. The Bible is even called God's Holy Word. What does this word mean? To understand the idea of holiness, you must break it into two parts. First it signifies God's separation from anything of this world. Psalm 113:5-6 reads

"Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?"

The psalmist is clearly stating that no one else is like God. His throne, his kingdom, is not here on Earth. Looking at the picture above, the circle is set apart from everything else. If we were to place our world or ourselves in this picture there would be a gap between us. Further more, God is not like us. We are, at best, like Him. What does a painter have to do with his painting? Only the fact that he put a piece of himself into it. He is not made of canvas or pigments. He isn't composed of brushstrokes and splashes of paint. God did indeed put a piece of Himself into us when He created us. Everything good and perfect in our lives is a result of Him. But that is as far as it goes. The ancient Greeks gave human emotions to their pantheon of gods. It made them more relatable, but it also made them petty, selfish, and to be honest proved them to be fake. Who today still prays to Zeus or Odin? Billy James Foote put it this way:

You are not a God
Created by human hands
You are not a God
Dependent on any mortal man
You are not a God
In need of anything we can give
By Your plan, that's just the way it is

You are God alone
From before time began
You were on Your throne
You are God alone
And right now
In the good times and bad
You are on Your throne
You are God alone

You're the only God
Whose power none can contend
You're the only God
Whose name and praise will never end
You're the only God
Who's worthy of everything we can give
You are God
And that's just the way it is

The second part of holiness is God's righteousness or purity. Psalm 119:137-138 reads,

"Righteous are you, O LORD  ,and your laws are right. The statutes you have laid down are righteous; they are fully trustworthy."

 

Holiness is essentially the absence of nasty. God does not live where sin is, nor are any of His actions sinful. This being the case, God does not allow anything that isn't holy into his presence. Now I'm sure that some of you are crying foul again. Why does one little wrong thing make me unfit for God's presence? I've done some research. As many of you know, the skunk has a rather peculiar defensive strategy. When it feels threatened it sprays this nasty (see where I'm going with this?) musk at it's perceived attacker. Although the liquid travels only 6.5 to 10 feet, its smell can be detected 1.5 miles downwind. I haven't tried it, mostly because my wife would physically harm me, but if you want to perform your own experiment concerning purity and immpurity try this. Just take a small drop of skunk spray (I also want to know how you got it) and drop it on your living room rug. Then let me know if a little wrong is ok in your house. The website went on to inform me that skunk odor is so concentrated briefly walking through a 2000 square foot house with a 1/2 drop of the liquid can permeate the house for days without ever touching an item in the house.

This is what sin is to God. It's not just a little dog doo wiped on the rug at the door, it is a vile odor that affects everyhting around it. On top of that, the smell is linked directly to our disobedience. It's not an accident, it was something caused by us. The Old Testament is filled with law after law. The point of all these laws was not to show you how to get to heaven, it was to show the Israelites and us that we can't do it on our own. Romans 3:20 states,

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

Righteousness is purity in verb form. Calvin and Hobbes was, and still is, one of my favorite comic strips. One of my favorites is this one.

 Having kids has made this particular strip even more hilarious. Before I was just a kid who understood how parents can get upset about the littlest thing. As a parent I can understand her reaction. I empathize with her that it is a really a big deal that he has tracked dog doo across the house. You see, it's not that he made a mistake...OK, it's not just because he made a mistake. Dog doo is nasty. It smells, it stains, and it smells! I try to keep my house un-nasty. The last thing any parent wants in their house is a trail of nasty (For all of you English perfectionists, I am making a noun of this word on purpose), regardless of who did it and how innocent they may be.
In God there is no wrong. His actions are just and right. 

"Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law ; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin."

God and sin cannot be together, so much so that we are cut off from Him if we don't take care of it. As we've stated before, Romans 6:23 reads,

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

How do we take care of it? God's gift to us is the sacrifice of His Son Jesus. 1 John 1:7 says,

"and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."

It's never enjoyable to bare one's soul and look at the darkness inside. But if we are concerned with Truth, then we must look into it and accept it. Humans were created in the image of God per Genesis 1:27, but we tainted that image. The Good News is that even though God is a Holy God that dismisses sin from His presence, He offers forgiveness. Remember Leviticus 11:44? God invites us to be holy with Him. However, the conditions of that forgiveness are rightfully His. Will you accept it today? Are you willing to set yourself apart and become like Him?

All scripture was taken from the New International Version.