You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be My witnesses.
Acts 1:8
Power that does not bring holiness of heart will eventually be perverted. Holiness without power is lifeless and legalistic. Power without holiness eventually implodes on the individual. The power mentioned in this passage comes to us in and through the person and work of the Holy Spirit. His work will bring about who He is in us, and He is holy. Holiness has fallen on hard times. It has been worked over by some and forgotten by most. In a culture that disregards commitments and promotes instant pleasure, holiness seems like a religious antique that has outlived its time.
However, holiness is what we actually need. Holiness is wholeness. It is the perfect remedy for imperfect people. It is the power of the Holy Spirit touching our inner heart and life. Holiness cannot be forced in from the outside but is embraced from the inside. Holiness is not about law but love. It is the reservation of one’s personhood for God, resulting in being set aside for the use of God’s purposes in the earth.
Mark Rutland in his book Holiness, writes, “Holiness is not the burden of the bound, but the blessing of the broken. Holiness is the joyful, triumphant delight of the redeemed. Holiness is not the grim determination to keep the law. It is life liberated, chainless, and full of joy. Holiness is the real work of a real God in real people to grant real life.”
Are you more concerned with the power of the Holy Spirit for miracles than for your own transformation? We need to be equally in pursuit of both! Are you growing in your love and desire for Jesus? Are you struggling with the same issues you did two years ago? The goal is not perfection, but growth. Are you growing in grace?
There is a story in Greek mythology that illustrates that holiness is about love and not law; it is called “The Island of the Sirens.” The Sirens were mythological creatures who would sit on the rocks of the island and sing songs so captivating that seamen would drive their ships towards the sound and crash on the rocks of the island. What a great picture of temptation!
There are two examples of people who made it safely past the island. One was Odysseus, who tied all his men to his ship and poured wax in their ears. Then, because no one was left to help him, he chained himself up and screamed. That is what most of us look like when we try to be holy without the power of the Holy Spirit: screaming and tied up, but not wrecked on the rocks.
The second example was Jason and the Argonauts. Jason hired a man named Mesmer who played beautifully on the flute. As they approached the island of the Sirens, all the men gathered around Mesmer and listened to him play. They were so “Mesmer-ized” by him that they didn’t hear the sound of the Sirens. That is the power of the Holy Spirit bringing holiness in our hearts; we sit at the feet of Jesus and become captivated by a much sweeter song than that of our temptations.