How to be truly holy.

“1 Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ by God’s will, to the saints and faithful in Christ Jesus who are at Ephesus. 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and [the] Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ; 4 according as he has chosen us in him before [the] world’s foundation, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love.”
Ephesians 1:1-4 Darby Translation (DARBY)
 
There is something specific that I want to draw your attention to: “He has chosen us in Him.” We have not been chosen by our own merit, goodness or ability. We have been chosen “in Him”, or in other words, in grace according to Jesus’ merit, goodness and ability. Jesus reminds us in John 15:5 that apart from Him we can do nothing. That includes the fact that apart from Jesus we cannot please God, we cannot get any favour with God and we cannot get blessed by God. We are who we are and have what we have because of Jesus. We could never be good enough even with our best efforts.
 
“4 It’s true that I once relied on all that I had become. I had a reason to boast and impress people with my accomplishments—more than others—for my pedigree was impeccable. 5 I was born a true Hebrew of the heritage of Israel as the son of a Jewish man from the tribe of Benjamin. I was circumcised eight days after my birth and was raised in the strict tradition of Orthodox Judaism, living a separated and devout life as a Pharisee. 6 And concerning the righteousness of the Torah, no one surpassed me; I was without a peer. Furthermore, as a fiery defender of the truth, I persecuted the messianic believers with religious zeal.”
Philippians 3:4-6 The Passion Translation (TPT)
 
 
Paul’s religious resume of good works and dedication is pretty impressive. Surely such excellent performance should count for something? Surely someone who performs really well would get some kind of leverage or advantage with God? That’s how we operate – good performance deserves extra favour, but God’s favour cannot be bought, earned or deserved. That’s why we define grace as “underserved, unearned, unmerited favour.” What does Paul say about his “good works résumé”? Look at this:
 
“7 Yet all of the accomplishments that I once took credit for, I’ve now forsaken them and I regard it all as nothing compared to the delight of experiencing Jesus Christ as my Lord! 8 To truly know him meant letting go of everything from my past and throwing all my boasting on the garbage heap. It’s all like a pile of manure to me now, so that I may be enriched in the reality of knowing Jesus Christ and embrace him as Lord in all of his greatness. 9 My passion is to be consumed with him and not clinging to my own “righteousness” based in keeping the written Law. My “righteousness” will be his, based on the faithfulness of Jesus Christ—the very righteousness that comes from God.”
Philippians 3:7-9 The Passion Translation (TPT)
 
It’s the right thing to do the right thing. There are benefits and even blessing in doing the right thing. However, it doesn’t matter how good your performance is, you cannot obtain more of God’s favour through it.  Paul recognized that His acceptance with God and His intimacy with Him was not based on what he did (good works, following the law) or didn’t do (sacrifice), but rather it was based on faith in the faithfulness of God. It’s based on right believing not right doing.
 
How do you see yourself? Do you see yourself as “found in Christ” or “found in your good works”? You may know the textbook answer, but what do you really believe? Another way to find out is to ask: are you “trying” or “trusting”? Are you trying to “achieve and obtain” or are you “resting and receiving”?

When we’re trusting in our best efforts to be made right (acceptable) with God, we miss it completely – not just a little bit but completely. It’s good to do good; good works are beneficial to us and others. Going to church, reading your Bible, living holy etc. is all good and I encourage you to keep doing the right thing, even if you don’t feel like it. You need to see that your good works don’t make you any more acceptable in God’s eyes. He doesn’t accept you because you give money to the church or because you serve at worship services every week. Living holy should flow effortlessly from a place of realizing how accepted you are in Christ. You aren’t living holy to be accepted by God, or get more blessing or more favour; the reason we live holy (actions) is because we are holy (identity). Holiness is the fruit of who we are not something we strive for. Your best efforts to live holy will never be good enough. The only holiness that is acceptable to God is His holiness, not yours.
 
“10 By God’s will we have been purified and made holy once and for all [made holy through the offering up of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all] through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus, the Messiah!”
Hebrews 10:10 The Passion Translation (TPT) – brackets are TPT footnotes
 
“10 Under this new plan we have been forgiven and made clean by Christ’s dying for us once and for all.”
Hebrews 10:10 Living Bible (TLB)
 
“5 Our faith in Jesus transfers God’s righteousness to us and he now declares us flawless in his eyes. This means we can now enjoy true and lasting peace with God, all because of what our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, has done for us.”
Romans 5:1 The Passion Translation (TPT)
 
Through our faith in what Jesus has done for us we are made righteous (100% right with God) and completely holy and acceptable to God.