The Way of Holiness – Following Jesus From the Edges

GOD SPEAKING DEVOTIONAL #4

The way of Holiness –

Pastor Calvin Cook

January 22, 2026

Scripture: Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong.17 Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. Isaiah 1:16-17 (NIV)

During Advent we spent a week speaking about holiness. For many in mainline religions the conversation about holiness has been a shut off point. It has been taught as if it is a seasoning of our faith that sometimes makes us look good by our public posture and not something that we should be striving for. For most of my life I have heard and quoted the scripture – from 1Peter 1:16 “for it is written: “Be Holy, because I am Holy.” It is an easy scripture to remember and quote but the full consideration comes from the preceding verses beginning at verse 13 where Peter makes these important point: 1.Prepare your mind for action 2. Be self-controlled 3. Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Further Peter instructs shares — Do not conform to the evil desires you once had when you lived in disobedience- Why? Because the one who called you is Holy so be Holy in all you do.

But how do we embrace Holiness and allow being Holy to become our focus. The answer is really clear – as explained in Isaiah 1:16-17 – it comes from “cleaning up our lives”. Not focusing on evil or anything that separates us from God. The scripture is really clear here – “Take your evil deeds out of my sight.” Instead of focusing on doing what is right ! And doing what is right according to God’s good and perfect will and not our own.

Holiness, as described in scripture, is not merely a feeling or a belief. It is a way of living that honors God with both body and spirit. The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 7:1 encourages the believers to purify themselves, not because it will make us look good but because it will shape the way we live. When we embrace more of God, we begin to care less about those things that are contaminating our lives, our hearts and soul. We begin to care less about the “what I want” and more about what God wants.

As Isaiah called the people of Israel and Judah to cleanse (wash) themselves, to stop doing wrong it brings about the teaching of redemption, something else we haven’t always talked about in religious circles, that being Repentance: the turning away from sin and turning toward a new way of life. I don’t believe in this that God is trying to shame us, God is desiring to restore us.

I can’t apologize for this being heavier than maybe what you were expecting in a morning devotional. Again, remembering I am writing to myself and sharing with you.

Here is what I am hearing the Spirit speak to me today: “Come walk with me today, Come, learn a better way. Come, walk with me.”

The invitation is there “Will you accept it?”