Followed By Mercy

Holiness Means Belonging To God

• W. Austin Gardner

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What if "be holy" was never meant to sound like a shout from a mountaintop, but a Father's whisper of belonging?

You need to shift your definition of holiness from a checklist to a relationship, from moral pressure to a life shared with the presence of God. Instead of chasing perfection: holy means set apart, spoken for, and filled with the life of Christ.

We walk through vivid images that bring this home: tabernacle vessels made holy by purpose, a wedding ring that signals promise over performance. This uniform declares a mission bigger than the person wearing it. From the burning bush to the torn veil, the through-line is clear: things become holy when God draws near. And now, by the Spirit, that nearness lives in us. "Christ in you, the hope of glory" turns holiness from imitation into participation, from trying harder into letting Jesus live his life through us.

Along the way, we wrestle with the exhaustion of self-improvement and the relief of grace that teaches rather than guilt. We reflect on forgiveness as holiness in action, scars transformed into stories of mercy, and on humility as honest agreement that every good thing in us comes from God. Finally, we land in rest: not passivity, but settled confidence that the work is finished and we are already his.

If you've confused holiness with performance, this conversation invites you to breathe, abide, and live from the belonging you already have.

In This Episode:

  • Holiness as belonging rather than performance
  • Old Testament images that define "set apart"
  • Christ in you as the hope of glory
  • Grace as the teacher that replaces guilt
  • New creation and the torn veil
  • Love and forgiveness as evidence of holiness
  • Humility and rest are the shape of real holiness
  • Practical images: ring, uniform, temple

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Austin Gardner:

This is Austin Gardner welcoming you back to Followed by Mercy. I am very excited today because I want to share with you something that's been on my heart for a long time. I've been thinking about, and I think it's maybe one of the most frustrating things when you start thinking about grace and you start thinking about being followed by goodness and mercy. Because we look at it and we think, well, you know, it sounds like grace is just too good. It's like, what about holiness? And so I wanted to talk to you today about be ye holy. And we hear that, we hear God say it, something inside just tightens up. Most of us picture a long list of impossible rules, a life of white-knuckled self-control. It's like a demand, not an invitation. But I would like to ask if what is the possibility that we might have misunderstood the tone of the verse? What if, be ye holy, is not God shouting orders from a mountaintop, but a father whispering to his children? And when he whispers to us, he says, Come walk with me, live close to me, you belong to me now. Bible says in Leviticus 11, 44 and 45, for I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and you shall be holy, for I am holy. So I've done quite a bit of studying, just looking at things, and the word holy means set apart, dedicated, distinct. It's really not about moral perfection, it's not about achieving morality, it's about belonging. It means to be holy or set apart for God's use. I think we all know that, but we've added something to it. It means your life is no longer common property. Holy means you've been claimed, it means you belong to someone. I grew up thinking holiness was about behavior and how well I performed, how clean I looked, how much sin I avoided. And that kind of holiness can lead to exhaustion, not transformation. God becomes a taskmaster, a rules keeper, not a father. But holiness, as the scripture teaches it, begins not with self-effort, but with union, being one with the one who is holy. We are joined to the one, we are joined to Christ. When God said to Israel, You shall be holy, he wasn't saying try harder. He was saying, Walk with me. Let my presence mark you. So look at it like this. When a woman puts on her wedding ring, that ring doesn't mean she's a perfect wife. It means she's spoken for. It tells the world she belongs to someone. That's what holiness looks like. It's a sign of belonging, not perfection. We may fail in our duties, we may not get everything right, but that ring stays on the hand because love made a promise. Holiness is God's promise on you. It is God saying to us, you are mine. And that truth, more than any effort, begins to change us. In the tabernacle of Moses in the Old Testament, there were bowls and lamps and utensils made of bronze or gold. They were called holy, not because they were made of better metal, but because they were set apart. They weren't used for ordinary meals. They were dedicated to the service of God. That's the image behind be ye holy. It's being set apart. Holiness isn't about shining brighter than others. It's about being placed in God's hands for his purpose. When you belong to him, even ordinary moments, washing dishes, driving to work, forgiving a friend, they can become sacred. Here's what I love about the Old Testament picture of holiness. Everything holy was holy because God's presence touched it. The ground near the burning bush was holy because God stood there. The mountain trembled because he descended on it. The temple was holy because his glory filled it. And now in Christ, that same presence, the presence of God, lives in us. What? Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God, you are not your own, for you are bought with a price. That's 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20. We are the new temple. You are the new temple. Holiness isn't you climbing toward heaven, it's heaven taking up residence inside of you. When Jesus came, he didn't just tell us what holiness looked like, he shared his holiness with us. He became one of us. And in Colossians 1:27, we have one of the most powerful statements in the Bible: Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's the gospel secret. Holiness is not imitation, it's participation. We're not trying to act like Jesus. Jesus is living his life through us. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, but it's not me, but it's Christ living in me. Now let that sink in. Christ lives in you, not as an idea, but as a living presence, a living person. That's holiness. It's not about you trying to be godly, it's about God sharing his own life with you. Now, let's be honest. I think we all know many have spent years trying to please God, fasting, confessing, working harder, reading more, but feeling more miserable. We keep thinking, I keep failing, I'll never be holy. Every time I quit one thing, it seems like there's something else. Then one day we realize it finally hits us. God never asked us to become holy by effort. He asks us to receive his holiness through grace. The peace that follows when you figure out it's grace changes everything. We can stop performing and start trusting. We can stop trying to love God and start resting in God's love for us. That's when holiness will bloom. Because holiness doesn't grow in the soil of striving, it grows in the soil of union and knowing that Christ is enough. So wherever you are, take a deep breath. Maybe you've learned that carrying the weight and trying to be good enough is just burdened you down, left you confused. Because you confuse holiness with perfection. Let me tell you something freeing. You are already set apart, already loved, already holy, because the holy one lives in you. The question is not how can I be more holy? The question is how can I live from the holiness that's already mine in Christ? Let his peace settle over you now. You don't have to prove anything, you just have to abide. I am the Lord that brings you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall be holy, therefore be holy, for I am holy. Did you get the order of the verse? I brought you out, so be holy. I rescued you, I invite you to relationship. Holiness begins with deliverance, not demand. So see, we've been chasing something that we've already been given. We've been trying to achieve something that He did in us. So I would like you to think about this for for a moment. Holiness is belonging, it's not a prize for performance, it's the presence of God inside ordinary people. And that's even stronger in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, holiness was about distance. God was behind a veil. His people could only get so close. But when Jesus died, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. God tore the separation himself. Holiness stepped out of the Holy of Holies and came looking for us. So when Peter said, Be ye holy, for I'm holy, he wasn't repeating an old rule. He was reminding us that what once was impossible has now been made possible through the church. Excuse me, through the cross. It's been made possible through the cross. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. Holiness is not about self-improvement, it's a new creation. You don't clean up the old life, you receive a new one. When the Spirit came to live in you, he didn't patch the holes, he planted a new heart. That's holiness at the very source. God giving us his own heart so we can live from his life. Now, think about it. We talked about a wife putting on a ring and belonging. Think of a soldier putting on his uniform. The moment he puts on that uniform, his identity changes. He's set apart for a mission larger than himself. Now he might stumble, make mistakes, even trip on the battlefield, but his uniform declares where his loyalty lies. When you came to Christ, you put on his life like that uniform. You put on Christ, Romans 13, 14. You're not dressing yourself in perfection, you're clothing yourself in belonging. For the grace of God that brings salvation as appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. Notice the teaching grace, not guilt, not fear. Grace instructs us. When you live under grace, holiness stops being forced. It becomes a fruit of a grateful heart. Grace whispers, you belong to him, now live like it. Let's rest in this Christ in you, the hope of glory. Holiness is not reaching up to God, it's God living his life through us. Every time we forgive, it's his mercy flowing. Every time we choose to choose truth over deception, it's his integrity shining out. You're the vessel, he's alive within. Christ lives in me. So my heart is like a house under construction. It's not about God fixing a few leaks, leaks. He starts removing walls and building rooms. It's confusing, it's painful. He's not remodeling a cottage, he's building a palace. He intends to live there himself. When the process hurts, remember every hammer strike is a sound of love, making space for holiness. And holiness is not about rules, it's about relationship. If you walk in the spirit, if you live in the spirit, walk in the spirit. To walk in the spirit simply means moment by moment trust. Lord Jesus, be yourself in me right now. And so when we stumble and start over, we know this. It is Him living in us. Children imitate their parents without trying. A son laughs the way his father laughs. A daughter tilts her head the same way her mother does. That's what happens in holiness. You spend time with the Father, and before you know it, his tone becomes yours. We are followers of God as dear children. Family. Family language. Now take a moment to breathe and rest in God's presence. Ask yourself, where have I been trying to achieve what Christ has already made true? Where have I confused holiness with performance? Let his peace settle that question. You're not an employee in his kingdom, you're his child, his dwelling place, his joy. So let's thank him. That holiness isn't a pressure to be perfect, but a privilege of his life lived in us. That's what's going on here. I am so excited when I see that and I realize how much he's done. You see, we come to see that a holiness is visible when it shows that we belong, and our holiness begins to show in us loving and forgiving and resting. If we love one another, God dwells in us. That's holiness in action. Not how loudly we sing or how well we perform, but how deeply we love. Love is the evidence that the Holy One really lives in us. It's the fragrance of His presence. Where His spirit dwells, resentment dies, and compassion begins to breathe. Holiness will always lead to forgiveness. You can't set apart for God while clutching angry. Anger. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. Think about that. Even as God has forgiven you, that means freely, completely, without keeping score. Holiness doesn't glare at the offender. It looks at the cross and remembers how much mercy costs. When you forgive, you're not saying the wound didn't matter. You're saying the wound no longer owns you. You're handing it to the one whose scars already carried it. After the resurrection, Jesus still had scars. He could have erased them, but he kept them as a testimony that pain can become holy. When we forgive, we do the same. We let our scars tell the story of grace, not bitterness. Every time we choose to forgive, we're letting the life of Christ be seen in us. That's holiness. Love doing what only God can do. Holiness will never make us proud, it'll make us gentle. He has showed thee, O man, what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, love mercy, walk humbly. Humility is simply agreeing with the truth that every good thing in you comes from him. Holiness and humility walk hand in hand. You cannot have one without the other. When Christ fills our heart, pride has no room to breathe. Real holiness is rest. There remains therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest has also ceased from his own works, as God did from his. It's not about inactivity, but about inner peace, the calm of knowing the work is done. You don't have to prove yourself holy. You rest in the one who is. You cease from striving because Christ has already made you complete. Holiness begins where self-effort ends. It's a sigh of relief that says, Not I, but Christ living in me. So we're not about being worthy here. It's not about you trying to clean yourself up, trying to be good enough, because that just makes you tired. Jesus says, Come unto me all ye that labor, and I will give you rest. You can trust the Lord to work in you. Now, some of you listening have a real hard time because you don't want to be a Christian. You don't want to do right because it's just asking too much. Well, the truth is, God's not asking. He's going to do it for you. It's a gift. He makes you holy. He lets you be joined to him. And if you're a born-again believer, begin to rest in the work that Jesus did. You're not striving to get married. You are married. You're wearing the ring. You're not working to become a soldier. You are the soldier. You have the holiness of God by Christ living in you. I don't know if this is blessing you. I don't know if it's helped you. It sure has made a difference in my life. Understanding holiness as being belonging, set apart to Him. You see, God is holy because He's different than us. He's set apart. And now we belong to Him. And that's what makes us holy. Thanks for listening. I hope it's a blessing to you. If it is, share it with somebody else. God bless you.

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Austin Gardner

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