The Burden of Holiness
For I, the Lord, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. Therefore, you must be holy because I am holy.
Leviticus 11:45
Holiness is defined as something dedicated or consecrated to God…something sacred. There’s a burden that comes with holiness—the Refiner’s fire, the stripping, the removing, the pruning. It’s the burden of understanding and embracing that your life is no longer your own, which can be a shock when that’s how we’ve been living our entire lives.
I remember being in service and hearing, “We want the crown, but we don’t want the cross.”
Meaning we often want the blessings of God without having to go through the suffering that comes with them. We want the reward, but don’t want to bear the weight of the burden.
I get it, because I was there.
We’ve all heard it before, “come as you are” to Christ. This is true. Christ does beckon us to come unto Him as we are. John 3:16 says it perfectly, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
2 Peter 3:19 echoes this in saying that God doesn’t want any of us to perish. So yes, God invites us to come unto Him that we might be saved.
But what happens when we come unto Him? Unfortunately, it seems that the continuation of “Come as you are” has turned into “and stay as you are because God loves you as you are.”
Continuing in 2 Peter 3:9, it states that God does not want anyone to perish, but to repent. And my dear friend, true repentance requires change. God does love us, but simply using that as a blanket to remain unchanged isn’t biblical.
We see it through the Word God’s desire for His people back then and for His people today—that is us, followers of Christ. For we know God is unchanging: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)
What is that desire? Holiness.
Exodus
After the Israelites were delivered from Egypt, the Lord sent them down a path of purification and sanctification. For over 400 years, they had been steeped in the polytheistic traditions and customs of the Egyptians.
God was changing their former identity and giving them a new one—an identity He had given them long before then.
The Cutting Away
If we go back to Genesis, God initially set his people apart through circumcision. In Genesis 17:10–14, God establishes an everlasting covenant with Abraham, promising to make him the father of a multitude of nations. In response to this beautiful promise, God required that every male be circumcised.
The physical act of cutting the foreskin held a profound spiritual meaning: the cutting away of the flesh. This served as a constant, physical reminder of the sacred agreement—the burden of holiness they bore to visibly remain in the covenant. It was both a literal physical sign and a decisive act of separation, clearly marking Abraham's family as a people distinct from the surrounding nations.
What does this look like for us? It means embracing a distinct lifestyle—considering how we talk, how we present ourselves, what we listen to, where we go, and who we spend time with. Ultimately, it calls for tossing away worldly ideologies, practices, and beliefs that are contrary to the Word of God.
The Cutting Out
Moving into the New Testament, the early Christians ran into a tough question: Did Gentile converts need to be circumcised to be saved? This disagreement became clear when, while Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men arrived from Judea with a strict message for the believers: "Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved."
Both Paul and Barnabas strongly disagreed with the requirement of circumcision. The debate was then settled at the Council of Jerusalem, where Peter declared that God had already accepted the Gentiles.
The point of this was to prevent the practice from turning into something that was once meant to be a sign of being holy, a set-apart status, now simply used in a ritualistic manner with no thought to the original covenant it was for. The true danger was that it would become a tradition we just go through because we've been doing it forever.
In the end, the matter was settled that the physical act of circumcision was not essential for salvation. However, this moment points to a timeless issue: Sometimes we find ourselves with an appearance of holiness, but really it’s just for show, not truly holy.
Did that mean circumcision didn't matter? Not at all. While it remained a significant cultural practice, the new ruling was clear: Gentile converts were not required to be circumcised to become Christians. Acceptance into the Kingdom of God became a matter of the heart, rather than a physical necessity.
1 Corinthians 7:19 - For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.
The Cutting Within
Beyond the physical act, the internal commitment is what truly matters. Since Gentiles were welcomed without the requirement of circumcision, acceptance was defined not by a physical mark, but by the condition of the heart.
The Apostle Paul makes this distinction clear in Romans, directly challenging the idea that the physical ritual alone grants favor:
“For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision. No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit.”
Paul is speaking to the belief that the physical act saves you. This external focus was the very flaw of the religious leaders of the day; the Pharisees were diligent in keeping the visible laws, but their hearts were far from God. As the Lord himself declared in Matthew 15:8: "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."
This emphasis on the heart was not new. Earlier in the scriptures, the prophet Jeremiah called for an internal change, warning the people in Jeremiah 4:4 (NIV) to: “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts.”
Circumcision, therefore, is not just a medical procedure; it is a spiritual procedure—the cutting away of the flesh that keeps us bound to our own desires and the world. It’s the surrendering of our pride and power, as it says in the New Living Translation.
Holiness is an inward choice that manifests outwardly. If your motive for change is not reverence and love for God, you have missed the point, just like the religious leaders of the past. You can stop cussing and stop clubbing and still be far from God if your motive isn't right.
A New People
The Apostle Paul captured the core of this shift in Galatians 6:15: "It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation."
Following this theme, 1 Peter 2 opens by urging believers to reject sinful behavior and warning of the consequences for those who disobey God's word. Peter then makes a profound move: he contrasts this former life with the believers' new, unique identity.
He declares: "But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light."
This emphasis on identity was not new; the Lord had always reminded His people of who He is and who they were.
This Brings Us to Our Burden Today
God loves you as you are, yes.
He showed this love by reaching out to the Samaritan woman at the well, the Adulterous woman caught in the act, David after his great sin, and Peter after his denial.
But God wants you to stay as you are, no.
He challenged every one of them to move beyond their current state and their past actions.
To the Adulterous Woman, His challenge was direct: "Go and sin no more" (John 8:11).
To Peter, the call was a loving restoration and a commission: "Feed my sheep" (John 21:17).
To David, the promise of forgiveness came with the expectation of a "clean heart" (Psalm 51:10).
To all, it was a call to return to the Holy One, that we might be made holy. This is the divine paradox: He beckons for us to come as we are unto Him, so we can find what we’ve been searching and yearning for—love, hope, peace, and joy.
The Transformation and The Burden
In the process of coming to Him, we are cleansed, justified, and sanctified by His grace. This results in a radical transformation—we move and we become holy.
But the movement doesn't stop there. While our transformation begins and ends with God, we are right there walking it out and living it every day. It becomes our active responsibility to hold on to that holiness, which means choosing daily to live like Christ, as He has taught us.
This is the burden—the call to resist the powerful pull of the flesh and seek God in a culture that pushes back. Romans 8:12 declares that we have no obligation to follow our fleshly nature. God is still challenging you and me to be better, to do better, and to strive to be holy as He is holy.
We cannot simply remove holiness like a garment, and we cannot shift the Word to make us feel better about staying where we are just because we don't want to change.
To cling to comfort is to want the crown but reject the cost—the daily self-denial and spiritual circumcision required to walk with the Holy One.
