Holiness
And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it.
Isaiah 35:8
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
Romans 6:22
Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
Hebrews 17:14
STORY
The Roman Catholic clerical religious order the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ was established in Mexico in 1941. The founder was Marcial Maciel. The doctrine of the Legion is to be composed of men “driven by the desire of Jesus’ heart to set the world ablaze and lead others to transform their hearts, their families and their world with the love of Christ the King.” The mission of the order was to minister exclusively to the wealthy elite men in business and politics. The Legion focused only on evangelizing society’s leaders, the wealthy and powerful, with the intent that this would direct these leaders to minister to the poor whom they govern.
The priests desire to set the world ablaze in righteousness was only matched by their enthusiasm to molest young boys. In December 2019 the Legion admitted that 33 priests of the organization had sexually abused 175 children over several decades, 60 of these young boys were molested by the Legion’s founder, Macie Maciel.
It was discovered that the order’s founder was a pedophile who fathered at least six children, and was a drug addict as well as an embezzler. He was removed from his position in 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI, and was ordered by the pope to retire to a life of penitence. He died two years later at the age of 87 without facing his accusers.
After his death, many followers still idolized Maciel. They kept photos of him on home altars, read his writings in worship, and revered him as a saint. Pope Francis, who was elected as pontiff after Benedict, would not tolerate the veneration of Marcial Maciel. Pope Francis, in a sermon delivered on Saturday, February 23, 2020, proclaimed, “you can no longer consider him an example of holiness to imitate.”
DEVOTION
It has been said that God cannot forgive the sin of the unrepentant because He is Holy.
One of the most important ways for our understanding God is to comprehend God’s attribute of holiness. When we catch a vision of God’s holiness, we can regard the world as a sacred creation from the Creator. When we lose a sense of God’s holiness, we then view creation as man’s domain absent of a creator God. In this latter case, we also lose a sense of our own sinfulness, our need for God’s grace, and the desperate plight of our culture.
The Hebrew word for holy is quadosh, and the Greek word is haigos. In both cases the meaning of holy is be separated from that which is unclean. An encounter with God’s holiness always produces a dread that leads us to sperate ourselves from sin. We are to strive to be holy, as it is written in Hebrews “without holiness no one will see the Lord.” When we lose our vision of the beauty of God’s holiness, then an ugliness creeps into us from the inside out, touching our relationships, our church, our place of employment, and our way of daily living.
Points to Ponder
Ø What does holiness mean to you
o For me: It means that I must live a pure and unblemished life. Though I can never obtain the purity that God would desire of me, I must struggle to live a biblical life.
Ø How can you be a part of God’s holiness
o For me: I must emulate Jesus. I can only do this imperfectly, though if I daily attempt it I will be a better person.
Ø How does holiness expose sin
o For me: Holiness is God’s light shining in darkness. The holiness of God makes me aware of my sins and how I must be constantly attempting to be as obedient to the teachings of the scriptures as humanely possible.
Please share other Points to Ponder so I can update my list
Please share your thoughts with me – if you desire I will publish them for others to read anonymously or first name only or your entire name as you choose