Unlike our holiness, which is flawed and inconsistent, God’s holiness is eternal and unchanging. It defines everything He does. For example, God’s love is holy; His justice is holy; His mercy is holy; His power is holy; His truth is holy. Thus, understanding and embracing God’s holiness will transform how we think, live, and worship.

Weeks after my conversion to Christ, many of my friends had questions for me, particularly related to what this meant for my nightlife moving forward: Would I still be going out? Was I “allowed” to drink? One question that stood out in those early days came from my friend’s father. He approached me and asked, “What is it like knowing that for the rest of your life, everyone will be out having fun and enjoying life while you are stuck going to church?” Looking back now, I chuckle at such a question, but at that moment it made me quietly ask: Was I ready (and able) to give up my “party” life? Was I ready to spend Sunday at church? Was I, paraphrasing the Apostle Paul, willing to forget what lay behind and strain forward to what lay ahead? (Phil. 3:13).

Conversations like the one above have occurred frequently throughout my thirty-plus years of following Christ, and the recurring focus when confronted with such inquiries has always been earthly. It has always been about me and my desires, who I am, and what I want. It has never been about God and His desires, who He is, and what He wants. This isn’t surprising; we should never expect an unbeliever to think beyond the material realm. These things can only be understood by those united to Christ. As Paul says, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14).

This leads me to the topic of this article: the transforming power of God’s holiness. Months after becoming a Christian, it became obvious to me that my desire to put behind me the things of this world and instead pursue holiness was dependent upon my experiential knowledge of God in Christ. The deeper my understanding of who God is, the greater my pursuit to be like Him became. This is especially true when it comes to God’s holiness.

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