32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot. (Moroni
Everything that is of the Lord is holy. If we are to be the Lord’s people, our ultimate goal is therefore to be holy. That is a goal that takes time and effort. It requires a change of heart, putting off the natural man and becoming spiritual in thought, word and deed. Even our desires will be changed as we consciously attempt to become holy.
In order to reach this lofty goal, we must have a clear understanding of what it means and then be completely and consistently committed to advancing toward that state. To be holy means to belong to God or to conform to His will. In scripture we read of holy prophets, holy lands, holy objects - especially those used in the temple - holy days, holy works, holy callings, holy purposes, holy desires, holy hands, the holy priesthood, holy faith, holy law, holy kiss, and the holy temple.
The Sabbath is holy because it is His day. We keep it holy by doing that which conforms to His will. If we do not keep it holy, it does not cease to be His day. We just miss the blessings that come from conforming to His will. However, the Sabbath day was changed at one time from the seventh day of the week to the first day. It is the Sabbath because it is the will of the Lord.
The priesthood does not stop being holy if someone attempts to misuse it. Such a person loses the ability to call upon the powers of the priesthood, but the priesthood belongs to God and only exists through Him. It is always holy. It is the user who may stop being holy.
A holy temple may stop being holy if it is defiled and the spirit of the Lord is therefore withdrawn from it. Objects that are to be used in sacred ceremonies in the temple may be defiled and therefore stop being holy. A holy prophet who stops doing the will of the Lord and follows after his own desires ceases to be holy and ceases to be a prophet.
So some things are holy because Heavenly Father has made it so, and man can do nothing to change that. Other things are holy because they are used by man according to the purposes of God and in compliance with His will. Of great importance to us, as we strive to become like the Savior, are the latter. We need to develop holy desires and holy purposes and a holy faith by having a change of heart and accepting our holy callings and fulfilling them with holy works by using holy hands. In other words, we must begin to become holy in our desires, thoughts, words, and deeds.
The second chapter in Happy Like Jesus is Be Holy. At first I thought it strange that something so all-encompassing and time-consuming, something that we are most likely not going to fully accomplish in this life, or at least not till we near the end of it, would come before other things that are smaller in nature and quicker to achieve, such as being humble, knowledgeable, obedient, forgiving, dedicated or disciplined. Then I realized that, in order to even attempt to achieve these other goals, one must have the desire to make such changes. That desire comes from having a reverence for God and all things spiritual. It is developed through replacing those activities and pastimes that feed competing desires. In order to move forward in achieving a change of heart, one must begin with the right attitude. The attitude is one of a holy reverence for all things pertaining to Jesus Christ and His gospel. To get started on this sacred path that leads to a change of heart, we must seek for a holy desire to do so. Otherwise, we will never take the first step.
Then we will see that becoming holy is accomplished step by step as we make progress on all the other attributes we are attempting to claim as our own. With each step in the right direction we become a little more holy. We will witness our desires becoming more pure and more in keeping with the Lord’s will. There will come a time when His will is our will. Then we will no longer be spending our time or energy doing things that make us unholy. We will be His people. We will be doing His work. We will be instruments in His hands. That which defiles us heart, mind and body will no longer have any appeal for us.
If this is what we seek, we must live as though it were already a reality. Everything we do, everything we say, everything we read or listen to must convey the love and respect we have for the Lord. There is no time that is not His time. We are never off the clock and therefore free to do things that might offend Him. It is never okay to be sacrilegious, irreverent or to mock that which is holy.
We do not want to be holier than thou or sanctimonious. We do not want to judge others. And we have to remember that we cannot become perfect in an instant. We are imperfect beings living in an imperfect world full of many people who have an effect on us in one way or another. Don’t forget the first step in becoming like Jesus. We want to be happy like Him. That happiness will increase if we can work on self-improvement without offending others or getting weighed down with the enormity of the task and without becoming discouraged when we are not perfect in our efforts.
This is a one-step-at-a-time journey. Choose a step and take it. For many just keeping the Sabbath day holy is a perfect first step. It is one day that is set aside for us to be holy. Can we be holy one day a week? I think I can do that.
Great blog Mom. I like how you point out that there is never a time we are free to do bad things. We have to always try and be holy.
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