![\"\"](\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_3418.jpeg\")
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What is holiness anyway? When something is made holy, like a Temple, it is formally dedicated to the Lord, through a number of different means. The more I think about it, the more it seems like we who are attending the Temple and participating in things that are holy are participating in making them holy. So, to a degree, holiness is about what we do.<\/p>\n
If so, then the concept \u201cThe Lord wants me to become holy\u201d is similar to saying that He wants us to act in a way that is righteous. But we often don\u2019t believe this. We put holiness on a pedestal, and we can\u2019t extend the same reverence we have for holy places to ourselves. Despite believing that we are literal children of deity, we don\u2019t think of ourselves as holy or even potentially holy.<\/p>\n
The Gospel says otherwise. The Plan of Salvation is about making us holy, over however many eternities it takes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Believing we can be holy starts with understanding the nature of our Heavenly Parents, Israel\u2019s God. And there\u2019s a lot to do, a lot to learn, both in what we know in our mind and in what we have learned in our muscles and how we react. Becoming holy is a process, a training of who we are so that we become more like Them.<\/p>\n
This poem, by English convert Louisa Bradford, captures some of the process and the breadth of what we need to do to become holy, or a \u201cSaint.\u201d<\/p>\n
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by Louisa Bradford<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
1852<\/p>\n
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I believe that this process of becoming holy starts with having a willing heart \u2014 with not only believing that we can become holy, but also being willing, or having the faith, to try. That is, to actually make a kind of offering of our will to God.<\/p>\n
Prolific LDS poet Joel H. Johnson captures here the need to make our offerings \u2014 our time, talents and blessings \u2014 of our own free will.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
by Joel H. Johnson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
1882<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Temple ordinances are part of the process, part of the covenant path that helps us become holy. I suspect this is because the ordinances are about helping us process the changes we need to make and the orientation we need to become holy. I don\u2019t think ordinances are magic or supernatural. I think they are more about what happens in our head and in our hearts as we work with these ordinances. They help us change our orientation towards life.<\/p>\n
The following Psalm (its form is like the Psalms in the Bible), looks at the important role that the Temple plays in our lives and the sacrifices needed for the Temple.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
by Jabez Woodard<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
1857<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Of course, the key element of becoming holy is repentance \u2014 which might be called the process of changing ourselves into something holy. And being forgiven is part of that process. If you can repent your way to Heaven, then, putting it another way, you can repent yourself holy. I think that\u2019s the same process.<\/p>\n
Zara Sabin, author of the hymn \u201cWith Humble Heart\u201d (#171), here helps us get into the frame of mind needed to make the process work. May we all say prayers like this to help change our \u2018humble hearts\u2019 to repent, and become more holy.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
by Zara Sabin<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
1940<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What is holiness anyway? When something is made holy, like a Temple, it is formally dedicated to the Lord, through a number of different means. The more I think about it, the more it seems like we who are attending the Temple and participating in things that are holy are participating in making them holy. So, to a degree, holiness is about what we do. If so, then the concept \u201cThe Lord wants me to become holy\u201d is similar to saying that He wants us to act in a way that is righteous. But we often don\u2019t believe this. We put holiness on a pedestal, and we can\u2019t extend the same reverence we have for holy places to ourselves. Despite believing that we are literal children of deity, we don\u2019t think of ourselves as holy or even potentially holy. The Gospel says otherwise. The Plan of Salvation is about making us holy, over however many eternities it takes. The Lord wants me to become holy. Believing we can be holy starts with understanding the nature of our Heavenly Parents, Israel\u2019s God. And there\u2019s a lot to do, a lot to learn, both in what we know in our mind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":53388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2895,2906,2462,1323],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-come-follow-me-currculum","category-old-testament","category-poetry-arts","category-sunday-school-lesson-old-testament"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_3418.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53384"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53394,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53384\/revisions\/53394"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}