Living in accord with the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all your behavior. 1 Peter 1:15
During the Christmas season this year, plain brown boxes filled with precious gifts are being delivered across the nation. We, ourselves, are containers packed with abundant and priceless gifts. Our gifts are packaged in fragile and homely vessels; but this only serves to enhance the beauty of the treasure, and ultimately the glory of the Giver. But we are more than containers; we are even more than storage facilities. We are designed to be distribution centers, from which the Giver can disperse the wealth of his fortune. When Scripture says that God is holy, it means that he has infinite, unexcelled and irreplaceable worth. In other words, he is our Infinite Treasure. From his inexhaustible resources we receive all our unique and wonderful talents and abilities. He pours his energy and ideas into our lives. He deposits them in us, not for us to hoard them, but so we will use them for the good of everyone around us. Instead of using people to fill our emptiness, God wants us to trust him to supply all our needs, to rejoice in what he’s given us, and to let it spill over into the lives of others. Our behavior can be holy in all our relationships because God has been holy in his relationship with us.
Father, thank you for the freedom your holiness affords me: freedom to love, freedom to give. May the way I extend your goodness to others enable them to see you more clearly, just as Jesus did.
Promises for the Battle 
Now there’s a definition of holiness that draws a person in. Thanks Doug.
Posted by ted & linda pampeyan | 12 December 2018, 10:52Thanks, Ted. I’ve found this definition helpful over the years. Understanding “holiness” as a term expressing value fits with all of the other uses of the adjective “holy” when it’s attached to other entities. So when we say that the Sabbath is holy, that the Bible is a holy book, that Israel is the holy land, we are making statements expressing the very special value that these things have for us. Similarly for us; according to 2 Timothy 2:21, if we cleanse ourselves from what is dishonorable, we will be like vessels of gold and silver in our Master’s house.
Posted by Doug Knighton | 12 December 2018, 12:20