Holiness and Reward

Holiness is its own reward. Holiness is the reward. Holiness is not merely a goal as if one day you can decide, I will be holy and the story ends. Yes, there is a choice in the matter. But there is also a receiving factor that is separate from the choice to be. There is a choice we must make to receive holiness and retain it. The reception of holiness is the rejection of sin for holiness sake. The comparison of holiness with sin for benefit cannot be used as a valid argument in the pursuit of holiness. In fact it is a deception that can keep one bound to sin because there is always a benefit that one can construe from sin. Of course there is struggle. The end of the struggle seems to be triumph through surrender, triumph through reception which results in action. It is not a triumph of will or action by will. It is interesting when considering Jesus’ battle against temptation. His actions were based not on an immediate benefit but on something else. It is this something else that we encounter in the reception of holiness. It is this something else we embody when we receive holiness.