“I Have No Plea but Christ”

Every believer in the Church of Jesus Christ is called to be holy — pure and blameless in God’s sight. So, if you have been born again, holiness must be the cry of your heart. “God, I want to be like Jesus. I want to walk holy before you all the days of my life.”

The New Testament tells us we are called to be holy “even as God is holy. How on earth are we made holy in the sight of God?

“As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15-16).

As you read the New Testament on this subject, you may be alarmed. “You mean that I am to be as holy as Jesus was? Impossible! He was spotless, perfect. How on earth could anyone live up to that standard?”

That was the very purpose of the law — to show us that it is impossible for anyone to measure up to God’s standard of holiness. Therefore, if there is none holy but the Lord, there can only be one way for us to become holy. We must be in Christ and his holiness must become our holiness.

Paul says that because Jesus, the root, is holy, then we, the branches, are also holy (see Romans 11:16). And John writes, “I am the vine, you are the branches” (John 15:5). In other words, because we are in Christ, we are made holy by virtue of his holiness.

Jesus stands alone in perfect holiness and if any person is ever to stand before the heavenly father and be received by him, that person must be in Christ. Our daily prayer should be: “Lord, I have no plea but Christ. I come to you only because I am in Christ and I claim his holiness. I know I stand before you uncondemned because I am in him!”