INFUSED HOLINESS
a new beginning
The best things are those given by God, holiness is no different. While the call to strive for holiness is real in the Bible, the promise of infused holiness, wherein God makes it real is truly sweet.
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God, and they will be my people.
No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”(Jeremiah 31:33,34)
Jeremiah the prophet who oversaw the period and the prophecies related to the exile of the Jewish nation, talks of a state of union with God in this interesting passage. Internalization of the law of God is a process that man is called to strive for by constantly studying the word and practicing it. Yet, true internalization happens when God himself writes the law in man’s mind and in his heart. In the former state, man actively strives for something that is hard and against his natural inclinations. Here, man finds the law of God pleasing and natural.
Further, the relationship with God becomes an unbreakable bond. God takes ownership of his people and submission to God becomes second nature. We live in an age where knowledge of God and love for God is becoming increasingly distant. An overdose of the sensual and the temporal drowns the presence of God. But God is God and will make himself known, and Jeremiah speaks of a time when the entire world will know him and turn to him in repentance. Forgiveness from God is the greatest need of man and God will bring that to pass.
Some of these promises do become reality in the New Testament era, following the completion of the work of Christ as the indwelling Spirit of God makes union with God a possibility. Some of the prophecy will need to wait for the end times and beyond as God works his clock through the history of mankind.
As the New Year dawns upon us, let the promise of infused holiness through union with God become an increasing reality for us.
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God’s presence should always be there with us. We can make our relationship with God so strong that there is no challenge that will come our way that will make us fear.