Toure Roberts - Holy Is Home

The idea of holiness can sometimes be off-putting; however, God invites us into it. So, what does it mean to be holy? I have done a lot of teaching on this, and I plan to dig deeper. I can tell you right now that I am not at the revelation about being holy that I will be. What I have taught in the past still stands as it relates to holiness: to be holy is to be spiritually whole. It means to be completely whole spiritually—nothing broken, nothing lacking. We often associate holiness with behavior, and when we say, «be holy, ” we mistakenly think it means to always do the right thing. That’s really not what it is. It’s not an act; He doesn’t say „do holy“; He says „be holy.“ So, it is a being, a way of existing—not being in the sense of behavior, but being in the sense of existence. It’s „I am, I am holy.“ It is a journey.

What I have discovered is that if I am holy—like Kevin’s question, which I will return to—if I strive to be holy, then the fruit of my life will exhibit the fruits of holiness. You follow what I’m saying? Many times, we chase what ultimately becomes behavior modification. You know, I want to stop doing this or start doing more of that; it’s almost like a mind-over-matter willpower thing. The reality is that I don’t believe God forces us into or out of anything. I believe His desire is transformation. I don’t think God wants people to not be, watch this, who they authentically and genuinely are. I think He wants to transform us into something authentically and genuinely that produces the fruit of holiness. Does that make sense?

I think that ties into the question my brother Kevin asked about whether holiness is attainable. I do believe it’s attainable—going from glory to glory, you know what I mean? When you study scripture, there are words in this specific tense: the perfect present tense. This means you are perfected; I’ve got to say this right. You are, watch this, perfect while being made perfect. Isn’t that crazy? It’s like that passage in Philippians 1 that we quote often, where it says that He who has begun a good work will complete it, will perfect it. So, I am in a state of perfection while being perfected. If I’m in Christ, who is perfect, my posture, my disposition, is perfect while I am yet being perfected.

Thus, I receive the rewards of being perfect, not because I am perfect, but because I am in the One who is perfect while I’m becoming perfect. Does that make sense? Have you ever wondered why sometimes God blesses you in ways that make you think, „I don’t deserve this, I didn’t earn this“? It’s like that song „Reckless Love“: „I didn’t earn it, I don’t deserve it.“ He’s not blessing you necessarily for where you are; He’s blessing you for who you are in Him. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold, all things are becoming new.

Holiness, being holy, is something else; it’s something to be desired, something to long for. I’m thinking about this—theophany, when God reveals Himself to someone. One of the most profound theophanies is in Isaiah chapter 6. It says, „In the year that King Uzziah died, ” Isaiah says, „I saw the Lord high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.“ He has this incredible theophany, God revealing Himself to him, and we are let into that experience. What he sees are angels, living creatures around the throne, angelic beings, and watch this: they cried out one to another, „Holy, holy, holy.“

They are not only describing the God they’re worshiping, but they’re also describing the atmosphere in which God lives. They’re emphasizing this attribute of God, and their worship and praise are creating that environment. They see something holy, and then there’s a part of them that cries out what they see. I just think that—again, I haven’t even begun to dig into it—I have been stirred tonight to really explore this. There will be a series coming, or maybe more talks like this, if that makes sense. I want to dig into it because there’s something about the concept of holiness that, if we truly understand it, will align us with our divinity in a way that I believe will shift things in our lives and around our lives and through our lives.