Our pastor preached on Hebrews 10 last weekend, highlighting the holiness of God and the importance of getting rid of habitual sin.  This was a message I’d been longing for, as you can tell by some of my past posts.  I started writing him an email to thank him for preaching it, and the following is what came out:

Thank you so much for preaching that message last weekend!

That “spiritual steak and potatoes” was exactly what I’ve been craving for months.  Even as I felt the atmosphere in the room get heavier, I found it hard not to smile.  Inside, I was jumping up and shouting, “Yes! Preach it!” (It crossed my mind to actually do that in the service, but I didn’t think people would quite understand.)  It’s been a long time since I’ve heard anyone preach about the majesty and holiness of God, and I think many (especially American) churches have lost the reverence and holy fear that those qualities require of us.  I feel we shy away from those attributes because we’re afraid (with the bad kind of fear).  We fear to think of how God truly sees us, so we have to keep preaching on His love, mercy, and grace.  Don’t get me wrong–those attributes are essential, and I am SO grateful for them.  But we tend to lose sight of God’s holiness, justice, and power.

Like I said, I think we’re afraid of how God really sees us.  And I think that stems from an improper view of ourselves.  We are constantly taught that we are “sinners saved by grace.”  And that is true, to an extent; that is not all that we are.  The most awesome thing about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection is that by His actions, we are redeemed.  God doesn’t stop with forgiveness.  He redeems us and sanctifies us.  He became sin for us–He took all of our sin.  Once we’ve been cleansed by His blood, He no longer looks at our past sins; He has removed them as far as the east is from the west.

Once we have accepted His forgiveness and His transforming power, He no longer sees us as sinners.  He calls us saints and His children.  And that is what He calls us to be.  The whole reason He can call us to be holy is that He has removed our sin, which means we don’t have to (and shouldn’t!) carry it around anymore.  As a friend of mine says, “When you’re climbing a mountain, you don’t look back except to see how far you’ve come.”  God says to us–and this is the whole point of Hebrews 10–“I have transformed you.  Start acting like it.”