Take Time to Be Holy

Take time to be holy. Speak oft with thy Lord;

Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word.

Make friends with God's children; help those who are weak,

Forgetting in nothing, His blessing to seek.

Take time to be holy. The world rushes on;

Spend much time in secret, with Jesus alone.

By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be;

Thy friends in thy conduct, His likeness shall see.

Take time to be holy. Let Him be thy Guide;

And run not before Him, whatever betide.

In joy or in sorrow, still follow thy Lord,

And, looking to Jesus, still trust in His word.

Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul;

Each tho't and each motive, beneath His control.

Thus led by the Spirit, to fountains of love,

Thou soon shalt be fitted, for service above.

The other day, I was reading one of my books for class (Living by the Book by Howard Hendricks and William Hendricks), and something the author said struck a chord. I would love to quote an entire paragraph from the book but am not sure about the legality of that. So instead, I'll sum it up for you. In a chapter on the importance and the how-to of meditative Bible reading, he mentioned this hymn. Meditation takes time, but time is exactly what we need. We need to spend time reflecting on the Word in order to know, love, and imitate God more.

I remember singing this in church growing up. Over and over, I am so thankful to have gone to a hymn-singing church for my whole life. This is exactly the kind of song I need to sing over and over to remind myself of its truths. The cool thing is that this song has so many practical applications to the main message. It gives you plenty of ways to "take time to be holy" if you don't know where to begin. Meditation on the Word of God is just one way to do this. Praying to Him, abiding in Him, feeding on His Word, befriending other believers, helping people who are weak, remembering what He's done for you (in light of who He is and who you are), following Him in joy and in sorrow....these are all ways to be holy.

An important thing to keep in check is your motivation. Holiness, while essential and important, is not the main thing. The main thing is knowing and loving God more so that you can glorify Him better. Holiness comes from that, and it must be practiced. But you must be careful to not pursue holiness only for the sake of being holy or for the sake of appearing to be holy to others. You must learn to be holy because it's what God requires - "Because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy.'" I Peter 1:16, and obedience is what pleases Him.