Today’s 333 Devotional: “Worship is Awareness of God’s Holiness”

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” (Isaiah 6:3)

Our worship should always begin with an awareness of God’s holiness. Now, the word “holy” means to be set apart, and so these angelic beings are saying that God is holy, that is, God is set apart from everything else, and that there is nothing and no one who is comparable to the Lord, who Himself is the very definition of righteousness.

Our coming together to worship the Lord in His house, or even on our own, should always be done worshipfully and reverently. We should enter the presence of God with awe and wonder, because He is the one we’ve gathered together to meet.

In the law of sacrifice the Lord said, “I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:44a)

We are to prepare ourselves and live a life that is pleasing to God and Him alone, which is what it means too consecrate. To be holy means we are to set ourselves apart for His good pleasure, not our own.

The person who understands the holiness of God is then constantly being changed into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ. In other words, we cannot be like the rest of the world and presume that we’re God’s people.

“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.” (Ephesians 5:3)

If we are going to be followers of Jesus Christ, then we must be serious about our pursuit of holiness. Therefore, we worship God because He is holy, and His holiness demands our complete attention. That is what a worship-filled heart does, its aware of the holiness of God but it is also aware of our unworthiness which we’ll look at tomorrow.