I like God because he says I am holy

Danny Fourie

For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. Romans 5:19

It takes a while before one somewhat begins to understand this surprising fact. For what does it mean that God sees all of his children “in Christ”? Looking at them “through Jesus”? Would it really mean that to God we are no longer sinners, but holy?! Can you imagine yourself something less implausible than to suggest that we are saints?

Remember how I sweated when the minister asked us to imagine that everyone in the church service knows what the rest of us were up to the last week, what we said and what we did? Let me be honest, it was not the life of a saint they would have seen.

However, it seems that I may well be a saint. In God’s eyes. And who am I to go against God who made me? God has existed long before you and I were here. When God says that I am holy in Christ, I am holy, whether I understand it or not.

It is not uncommon to recognize yourself in your father when several people keep on pointing that out to you. When you hear it often, you begin to see it for yourself. So it is with our heavenly Father too. At first glance, there are very few similarities between him and me. God is holy. I am a sinner. God is love. I am often hateful. Everything that is God, I just seem not to be.

Yet we seem to be more like God than we would think. No, not from ourselves, but the moment when we worship hm as our Lord and Saviour, our identity changes. Then God sees us “in Christ”, he looks at us “through Jesus”. Then we are no longer sinners, but we are holy! We should not only know this, but also rely on it. I am holy.

Prayer: Thank you Father that I can think of myself as holy. Help me to understand it, rely on it and to live as someone who looks like you. Amen