Deep inside us is a voice that often asks us, "Am I a good person?" or "Am I good enough to get into heaven?"
Our culture dictates that morality is what defines our spirituality, and that we're only close to God when we're "good."
There is, however, a grave and imminent problem with being good: It's never good enough.
What is God's standard of goodness? It's complete and utmost perfection. 1 Peter 1:16 gives us the ultimatum of goodness saying, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."
But there's a problem here that encompasses anyone and everyone who has ever walked this earth: None of us are capable of holiness. Left to our own selves, we are only capable of sin and transgression.
1 Samuel 2:2 declares, "There is none holy like the Lord; there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God."
As wonderful as a declaration of God's holy character as that is, there is bad new attached to the holiness of God. It disqualifies us completely from His presence. Because God is holy and we are not, we cannot and should not enter His presence.
As Isaiah in His vision saw the glorious holiness of God fill a hall like a train of a robe, he could only shrink back in fear saying, "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" (Isaiah 6:5)
What makes God's holiness so scary? It's not because it's not beautiful. It is, in fact, beauty defined. Nothing is more majestic than God's holiness. What makes it so scary is not who God is, but who we are. We are unclean, wretched and crooked in every way. Even in our goodness, we are unable and unworthy of God's presence.
If we really call ourselves Christians and seek after God, we must strive for more than goodness. We must strive for holiness. But therein lies the rub. We are incapable of being holy just by trying to be.
But the pursuit of holiness is no longer a matter of behavioural alteration for us. It is instead now a pursuit of a Man who has already made a way for our complete holiness. It's the pursuit of Christ. Jesus lived the holy life we should have lived, and paid for our sinfulness with His own life. Now in His death, burial and resurrection, we have access to holiness by believing in Him.
As Christians, we can now pursue righteousness not based on our own works, but based on the grace of God through Jesus Christ. That is our pursuit. That is our standard. As we pursue Christ, we pursue holiness and progressively walk in it more and more. We cannot, should not, end with just being good. Our goal is Christ: to experience Him, to be marked by Him and to be empowered by Him.
