Holiness: Escaping Legalism, Embracing Sanctification
“You’ll never be used by God—you still smoke.”
“You’re not a real believer if you don’t wear a suit and tie.”
“You can’t be anointed if you don’t look the part.”
I’ve heard statements like these my whole life—words that sound holy but carry no grace. They create shame, not surrender. They make people perform for approval instead of living from the presence of God.
That’s not the voice of the Holy Spirit.
That’s the voice of legalism—a counterfeit holiness that trades intimacy for image.
Legalism has kept more believers bound than the world ever has. It convinces people that the external proves the eternal—that the way you look, talk, or dress determines how much God can use you.
But God doesn’t anoint appearances. He anoints obedience.
The Counterfeit of Holiness
Legalism looks clean on the outside, but it rots the inside.
It preaches rules without relationship—performance without presence.
Paul confronted this same spirit in his letter to the Colossians:
“Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world,
why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
(Touch not; taste not; handle not;)”
— Colossians 2:20–21, KJV
Legalism says, “Do this, and maybe God will love you.”
Holiness says, “Because God loves me, I want to walk pure before Him.”
Legalism measures how good you look.
Holiness measures how surrendered you are.
When we chase rules instead of righteousness, we become Pharisees dressed like saints—outwardly spotless, but inwardly dry.
And that’s not the gospel Jesus died to give us.
The apostle Paul told Timothy, “In a wealthy home some utensils are made of gold and silver, and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive utensils are used for special occasions, and the cheap ones are for everyday use. If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work” (2 Timothy 2:20–21, NLT).
This is what holiness is truly about — not earning salvation or keeping up appearances, but positioning ourselves to be vessels God can trust and fill. Paul didn’t say those who follow every rule will be used — he said those who purge themselves will be. Holiness is about becoming available, not acceptable.
The Call and the Chosen
Now hear me—I’m not against holiness. In fact, I believe holiness is heaven’s requirement for those who truly want to be used by God.
Not everyone will answer the call.
Many are invited, but few are chosen—not because God didn’t want them, but because they refused to be refined.
“To open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God.
Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people,
who are set apart by faith in Me.”
— Acts 26:18, NLT
Paul was told that inheritance belongs to those who are sanctified—those who have set themselves apart.
Holiness doesn’t earn salvation—Christ already did that.
But holiness determines how much of Heaven’s inheritance you can carry here and now.
You can be called and still live carnal.
But if you want to be chosen—if you want to carry the glory of God and magnify Christ through your life—you must remain holy.
Set Apart for His Glory
True holiness isn’t legalistic—it’s relational.
It’s what happens when love leads you to lay down everything that dims His light in you.
“For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
— 2 Corinthians 3:17, NLT
Freedom doesn’t mean you live loosely—it means you live led.
It’s not the right to do what you want; it’s the grace to do what He wants.
The man who still struggles but keeps surrendering will always go further than the man who looks perfect but never yields.
God doesn’t call the perfect—He perfects the called.
But those who want to be chosen vessels must go beyond salvation into sanctification.
A Holy Remnant in an Unholy World
We’re living in an hour when people crave power but avoid purity.
They want revival without repentance, anointing without altar, and glory without grinding down the flesh.
But those who will carry the glory of God in this generation will be those who remain holy.
Not legalistic. Not self-righteous. But consecrated.
Holiness doesn’t make you more saved—it makes you more surrendered.
And it’s in that surrender that Christ is glorified.
“Be ye holy; for I am holy.” — 1 Peter 1:16, KJV
So yes—legalism must die.
But holiness must rise.
Because the ones who will turn this world upside down won’t be the loudest or the most polished—
they’ll be the purest.
They’ll be the ones who said yes to the refining fire.
The ones who lived set apart so that Christ might be seen through them.
Final Word
Don’t confuse legalism with holiness.
One is man’s attempt to reach God.
The other is God’s work within man.
Legalism enslaves.
Holiness empowers.
Not everyone will answer the call—but those who do, those who choose the narrow road, will inherit a glory that religion could never manufacture.
So strip away the rules.
Lay down the fear.
And let Christ be glorified in a life made pure.
Because the call of God is free,
but the cost of being chosen is holiness.
