Make us holy . . .

Holy. It is a word that, for me, is packed with significance. I’m not sure of all the meanings for this word, but one of the most common, from a New Testament point of view, is “set apart”.

If you are a Christian, do you often think of yourself as “holy”? I find that somewhat foreign to my day to day thought processes. But I know by faith that I am set apart, I am holy. God in his love and grace sets us apart, puts us on display, uses us, even in our weakness, to glorify him. If you are his child, you are holy.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

– 1 Peter 2:9 (ESV)

Notice the words used here by Peter: “chosen”, “royal”, “holy”. And, of course, we are. We are holy. And we did not gain this holiness, this royalty, through anything we’ve done. We were chosen and adopted. Being adopted by the King makes us royal.

I don’t know if I understand all of this, frankly. But as I ponder the meaning of Christmas, I understand this anew: Christ came to earth to make us holy. We could not do it on our own. But he chose us and he has made us a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and we belong to him.

It started on the holy night of Christmas. Can you hear it? In the darkness of a quiet night a baby cries. And the demons quake. It has begun: the Holy One has come to earth to set apart for himself those he has made holy. And nothing will stop him from accomplishing his purposes: to veil himself in the injured flesh of humanity, to walk with us, to be our Immanuel, to free us from the bond of sin. He is calling to us, to come out of the darkness and into his marvelous light.

So that we might be made holy!