An ermine's understanding of Holiness

I came across this quote yesterday from A.W. Tozer, "The true Christian ideal is not to be happy but to be holy." Contrary to what some Christians would like for you to think, God is not as concerned about your "happiness" as much as He is your "holiness!" You cannot study the Bible diligently and earnestly without being struck by an obvious fact—the matter of personal holiness is extremely important to God!

The Hebrew word for holiness is kadesh which means something which is cut off, separate or set apart. It describes that which is anti-secular (secular = of or relating to the worldly or temporal), in a category all its own. Kadesh describes something that is elevated out of the sphere of what is ordinary. The New Testament word hagios also means set apart, separate and so in a class by itself. It follows that for believers (saints or "holy ones") the call to be holy is a call to be separated from common use and set apart, or reserved, for special use. In both Old and New Testaments the term is applied to things, persons, and pre-eminently to God Himself.

A beautiful illustration of the inherent idea of separation that is found in the word holiness comes from the world of nature. In the forests of northern Europe and Asia lives a little animal called the ermine, known for his snow-white fur in winter. He instinctively protects his white coat against anything that would soil it. Fur hunters take advantage of this unusual trait of the ermine. They don’t set a snare to catch him, but instead they find his home, which is usually a cleft in a rock or a hollow in an old tree. They smear the entrance and interior with grime. Then the hunters set their dogs loose to find and chase the ermine. The frightened animal flees toward home but doesn’t enter because of the filth. Rather than soil his white coat, he is trapped by the dogs and captured while preserving his purity. For the ermine, purity is more precious than life.

To the ermine, in the analogy above, Holiness was more important than happiness! His instincts were to first, "protect his purity," NOT make himself "happy!" Sure, he would have rather gone into his home and been safe, but to compromise his "holiness" for "happiness" was simply NOT an option!

I wonder what would happen if we received the kind of understanding of Holiness that this ermine has!

It's time we stopped apologizing for our moral positions! We need to get back to the simplicity of exposing sin as the enemy of humanity and setting forth righteousness and true holiness as the only worthy pursuits for God's "called out and separated" people.

(1 Thessalonians 4:7) says, "For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto HOLINESS."

The life of a Christian is NOT governed totally by the question of whether or not something is sin, but by whether or not it will damage the image of Christ in a Christian's life. The question is not merely, what do I have to do? But it is, what does Jesus want me to do? How can I please HIM? How can I draw closer to HIM? How can I become more like HIM?

In these Last Days, just as there was NOT another option for the ermine, there's NOT another option for us! We must preserve our purity and choose Holiness or we'll never make it to Heaven! (Hebrews 12:14)