We are called to holiness, just as He is holy.

But how?

How do we obtain this holiness to which God calls us to? Do we find the ability within ourselves to be like Christ? And when we fall short, does that mean we just need to try harder?

No. I think this common view is a snare to us, and instead the answer is found in putting off and putting on.

We are told to put off the old man with his deeds, and to put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.

This truth has just recently been coming into clarity for me. We are not meant to find within ourselves the ability to be loving, patient, gentle, and kind. We are not meant to work righteousness out of our flesh. Instead we are meant to put on Christ. To be a vessel for the display of His righteousness, not our own.

Eyes fixed on ourselves will entangle and trip us up. Our attempts to be holy by our own efforts is a hinderance to be thrown off.

We are clothed in sackcloth and our garments of captivity. We are not meant to clean this up. Instead we are meant to put these off and in their place put on Christ’s beautiful garments of righteousness.

We are not to put on a better version of ourselves. But rather, we are to put on Christ.  We are to die to ourselves so that Christ can flood the space we used to occupy, and the Lord can look down at us and see His Son in all His holiness.

This corruptible must put on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality.

But how do we do this? I think the answer is the same as to the way we first enter salvation:  We say yes to it in faith, receive it, and walk in it.

It’s available to us. We are meant to walk in it. We need to take our eyes off ourselves and off our attempts to purify the corruptible, and instead fix our eyes on His finished work and put on the gift of the incorruptible.