Coming before a Holy God

"Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: ³And let us arise, and go up to Beth–el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went." --Genesis 35:2-3.

Often, we like to think of God as approachable, and that as long as we come to Him, we're good. While this is true (as our sin has been paid for), we often forget about God's holiness. Jacob here shows three things that we should do to get ourselves in the right mindset as we present ourselves before a holy, flawless God.

1. Put away the strange gods that are among you. Simply put, remove anything that is more important to you than God Almighty. God tells us that we are not to have any gods before Him as the first commandment, and tells us later that we cannot serve two masters. This shows us that we cannot please Him as long as we are actively pursuing anything else, even if it "seems" noble.
2. Be clean. We need to take care of our sin. We live in a world that is just flat out filthy. Even if we manage to live the holiest of lives, our contact with the world will still soil us (just as if we walk in the mud and keep our clothes clean, our shoes will get a little dirty). We need the daily cleansing from the world that prayer and confession to God the Father will give us.
3. Change your garments. We should strive to present ourselves before Him as the best we can do. Just as you would not go to see the President (or king or the ruler of your country) in an old, grease-stained t-shirt with ripped jeans, we should not go to see an Almighty God this way. Now, what I am not saying is that a suit must be worn to every service or that women must wear dresses or anything close to that. To me, this is a personal conviction issue as far as what to wear, but the general principle must be that God deserves our best. If your best is a clean t-shirt and nice jeans, then wear that. God knows the heart, but the heart is reflected through our works. 

Next time you enter His presence, just remember, God is holy, and He expects us to at least attempt to meet that standard.

"But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; ¹⁶Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." --1 Peter 1:15-16

This post is not meant to diminish His grace by any means, but is just a note on the need to remember God's holiness. While His grace covers all, and the deepest of sinners can come to Him, this does not give us an excuse to live in sin (see Romans 6). If we do this, then we've made salvation nothing more than the "Get out of jail [hell] free" card in Monopoly.