Holy

“For it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."” 1 Peter 1:16 (NIV)
God is holy. The result of our sin is that our relationship with him is broken. God can’t look at sin or have it in his presence. He loves us, but he can’t embrace us as long as we embrace sin. We deserve to be punished by God for our rebellion. We have a problem that we cannot, on our own, make right.
I watched the TV in horror as the space shuttle exploded in a million tiny pieces, killing everyone on board. The ground crew knew that during lift-off, some small piece of the spacecraft broke off, but it didn’t seem like a big deal at the time. But it was a big deal. It was a matter of life and death. That is how sin is in our lives.
A Vaccination works by giving a person a small dose of the virus so that the body builds up its own immunity. As we have slowly indulged more and more in sin, we have become immune to its effects; we see it and think it’s no big deal. But it is a big deal. Like the small piece of spacecraft that broke off, our sin is a matter of life and death.
God hates our sin and has great love for us. Both are true. God doesn’t stop hating our sin in order to love us—it’s not in His nature. He had to fix the sin problem in order to embrace us. Instead of punishing us for our sin, Jesus was punished. He went to the cross to demonstrate the love of God and satisfy God’s holiness. That’s how God made our problem right. Not by punishing us, but by sacrificing Himself.
-Pastor Dino Griffin