“that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.”
Luke 1:74-75
What does it mean to serve in holiness?
In Isaiah chapter six verse three we read what the seraphim call out,
“And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
The word holy can mean set apart or separate.
“Holy, holy, holy” three times set apart. This is special. Yet how do we serve God in holiness?
Should we separate our selves from people who are different, isolate ourselves from possible corruption?
While there are examples of this in history whether we think of Noah, which worked out well for him, or a group called the Essenes who isolated themselves in the desert snd eventually died off, this is not fully what God is saying through Zachariah.
Does it mean to abstain from certain activities?
It could mean this. In the Bible we have the example of the Nazarites who we set apart for service and we’re not to touch alcohol or cut their hair. Samson and even John the Baptist fall into this line of thinking but this was a very small group and when we think about Jesus, God incarnate, our Lord and Saviour,He does not follow all of the strict rules of a Nazarite.
Is it to be the way we dress?
God looks at our heart and not our outward appearance as Samuel finds out in 1 Samuel 16:7. That and no one has declared what current “holy” dress is.
If we are to be serving God in holiness it means that our service has more with our relationship to Jesus than to ourselves, our willingness to obey in love and to live lives that love Jesus and our neighbours, to accept the Holy Spirits working in our lives and through our lives. Holiness is Jesus drawing us closer to Himself and farther away from sin.
To serve in holiness means relationship, willingness, acceptance, trust and faithfulness to Jesus as we go into the world to serve and be around and love the widow, the orphan, the foreigner, our neighbour, our enemy, and to allow the love of Christ into our own hearts.
“A true and faithful Christian does not make holy living an accidental thing. It is his great concern. As the business of a soldier is to fight so the business of a Christian is to be like Christ.” Jonathan Edwards
