"Who We Are... Whose We Are"

In God, there is never conflict between His being and doing.

"The Lord is righteous... The LORD is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works" (Psalm 145:17).

This truth provides a basis definition of Divine holiness, namely, that God is perfectly and eternally sanctified unto His own nature and character. Who He is always determines what He does, and what He does always reflects who He is.

The same cannot be said of His trusting sons and daughters in Christ during our earthly sojourn. We are holy in the most elemental sense, having been purchased with the precious blood of Christ, sealed by the Holy Spirit, and thus forever belonging to the Father as His dear children (I Corinthians 6:20; Ephesians 4:30; 5:1). Whether we seriously acknowledge His Lordship and ownership, however, is a different matter, as are the doings which should come forth from the faith that realizes who we are, and Whose we are. Believers can still think, speak, act and relate as if we are still "alienated from the life of God" rather than being spiritually united to Him. "Are ye not carnal, and walk as men?" asked the Apostle Paul of the wayward Corinthians who belonged to the Lord Jesus, but who consistently did not act like it (Ephesians 4:18; I Corinthians 3:3).

The Christian must build an altar within his heart whereupon he sacrifices any notion of belonging to himself in order to embrace the blessed truth that "your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own" (I Corinthians 6:19). We then venture from that altar to "walk in the Spirit" because we "live in the Spirit" - and because we know and have submitted ourselves to the grace of Christ's lordship (Galatians 5:25). Holiness in doing thus increasingly expresses the truth of our holiness in being.

We do well to frequently affirm to God, to ourselves, and to each other that the Lord Jesus blessedly delivered us from the cruel mastery and delusion of belonging to anyone other than Him. Holiness is peace. Holiness is joy. Holiness is contentment, and holiness alone fulfills the hearts of those who exist for the glory of the Lord Jesus and the fulfillment of His will. One day we shall perfectly know and walk in the perfection of who we are, and Whose we are. For now, we seek to grow in the awareness of so wondrous a Master, and so wonderful a life of belonging to One who always is who He is, and always does that which reveals His perfect heart and being.

"Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light."

(Ephesians 5:8)