“Good morning Holy Spirit!”

These are normally the first words out of my mouth upon awakening each day. It is my way of acknowledging my faith in the Presence of God the Spirit, and continuing our interaction day by day.

Often, a response comes to the ears of my spirit. Something like “Good morning, daughter” — though He doesn’t say the same thing every day. And on this recent day, He responded with:

“Good morning, holy daughter!”

The words stopped me in my tracks, startled by something I’d never heard before. Knowing God communicates, but always alert for anything that might not be His voice, I searched my mental Bible study database for reference. It came quickly: the many references in Scripture to how Jesus has, by His sacrifice and Presence, made us holy. I smiled. The Spirit smiled.

Now I am reading through Hebrews, today focused on Hebrews 2:5-18, a section the author uses to hammer home the fact that Jesus, in order to be the perfect sacrifice for man, had to become like us in every way. In the midst of this, he writes,

Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. (Hebrews 2:11 NIV)

I am holy. Jesus is my brother, I am his sister, and God is my Father. I am, in God’s eyes, a holy daughter. You are holy too, Beloved, if you have joined the family of God through Jesus Christ.

The word holy means several things. While does convey the idea of purity, it does so primarily in the context of relationship. Before Christ, we were too sin-stained to be close to God, to belong in His family. We were in such a state of uncleanness that the very holiness of God would have destroyed the unholy person who presumed to draw near. Stories in the Old Testament illustrate that terrifying fact.

Jesus changed that. He cleansed us by His blood, and made us holy. Christ, we can draw near to God and be acceptable to Him who is Most Holy. In fact, we simply and truly belong near God, even when we live less than perfectly.

Holy also means to be set apart for another in an exclusive way. Another word for that is sacred. Every husband and wife becomes holy to their spouse from the moment marriage vows are spoken. By promising to love and cherish until death, they vow to give themselves to the other only, and to not give themselves to anyone else in the most intimate ways of body and soul. Thus, your relationship is sacred, and you both should live in a way to not violate the beauty of that.

You struggle a bit, I know, with relaxing into the intimacy of that kind of thinking where God is concerned. But the evidence in Scripture is steadfast and clear about this, most obviously in Jesus’ words the night before His crucifixion. As He comforted His disciples, He vowed to them:

Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. (John 14:19-20 NIV)

Then he added a little later:

You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. (John 15:3-4 NIV)

Jesus just validated that believing in Him and His truth had already made them ready for the unhindered union with God He was about to purchase for them. In other words, these flawed humans would be qualified to become one with God, through Jesus’ blood, in a new covenant.

Hello, holy son of God.

Hello, holy daughter of God.

You belong. He is in you and you are in Him. He belongs to you. His heart belongs to you. His affection, His wise thoughts, His strength, His comforting company, belong to you, as an expression of the sacred relationship you share.

Because of the connection you both share to Christ, you are sacred to God, and by His sworn covenant promise, He will never fail to treat you as such. To be faithful to God, you need to uphold your side of the relationship by living in a way that acknowledges how sacred God is to you, and you to Him. Apostle Peter pointed this out when he wrote,

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:14-16 NASB)

As you read the New Testament, remember this: the word holy (as in Holy Spirit and in “be holy”) and the word saint, are all translated from the same Greek word, hagios. A saint is not a perfect person, a saint is a person who is sacred to God.

And without doubt, you are called to live holy. To live holy is to honor that fact in all you say and do, and to treat God as sacred. God has called you to himself in a covenant relationship through the blood of Christ, and covenant faithfulness calls for both parties in a relationship to be wholly committed to the sacredness of the relationship.

This is what it means to be holy, Beloved. God has made you holy to Him, but only you can choose how holy you will live before Him.