Holiness
ho'li·ness - the quality of being holy

ho·ly - Living according to a strict or highly
moral religious or spiritual system; saintly
"...because by one sacrifice he has made
perfect forever those who are being made
holy." (Heb. 10:14).
By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. If you have
accepted Jesus as your Savior, you have been made perfect forever. You are
righteous. You
are, in God's eyes, "without guilt or sin" because you have "believed the Lord" (Gen. 15:6). Not
because you have never sinned. Not because you have stopped sinning. But because you have
believed the Lord. And because you have believed Him,
He made the decision to credit that
belief to you as
righteousness.

If you borrow money from the bank you are obligated to pay it back. If for some reason, the
bank decides they want to release you from that obligation, they can. It's their decision,
because it's their bank and their money. You have no part in the decision. You may benefit
from it, but you have no part in the decision.

Because of our sin, we are in debt to God. We owe Him our blood and our soul for each sin
we've ever committed. We are obligated to Him to suffer
eternal torment for our sins. It is His
decision to release us from that obligation when we believe Him. He is the one that decides we
no longer owe Him. Not because we paid our debt, but because
He paid it for us...if we believe.
Because He decided to credit our belief as
righteousness, we have been made perfect forever.
Our guilt and our sin, in God's eyes, as far as our salvation goes, no longer exists.

Our holiness is another thing altogether. We who have been made (past tense - it's already
been done!) perfect forever
are being made  (present tense - it's an ongoing work!)  holy. We
are not holy creatures, nor will we be as long as we're in this earthly body. But each day we
have here on this earth, we are
being made holy. Sometimes, it's hard to tell that this is true.
We may do the same things today that we did yesterday. Tomorrow, we may do them again.
But we are a work in progress where holiness is concerned. God is molding us day by day.
Some days He may mold a little. Other days He may mold a lot. But He's molding us day by day
into holy people.

We are righteous because of what we believe. We are holy because of what we do...or don't
do. We are righteous because
God  decided to call us righteous when we believed Him. We
are holy when we live like the righteous people we are in God's eyes. We aren't holy very often,
but we are
being made  holy on a daily basis. Every day, He's working in us a little bit more to
get us a little closer to holiness...even when
we may not see it. If we believe the Lord, we are
righteous...but we are not holy. Not yet. We are being made that way, but we're not holy yet.
And we won't be until we leave this body. But we are righteous forever!

Wow! What an awesome God!!             
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