What Does it Mean to Be Set Apart?

When you hear “be holy,” what do you feel? If we’re honest, for most of us, it sounds like pressure. Heavy. Maybe even impossible. Like it’s this unreachable standard—like we’re supposed to climb a spiritual mountain without slipping once. But the more I soak in the ancient Scriptures, the more I realize… holiness was never meant to be a crushing weight. It was meant to be a mark of belonging. A sign of love. A sacred kind of difference. A difference that tells the whole world: This one is Mine . It all starts with a strange, beautiful word in Hebrew: קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh) . That word is deep. We translate it as “holy,” but it doesn’t just mean “morally pure” or “sinless.” It means something far more visceral: set apart , distinct , cut away from the ordinary . Think of something taken out of everyday use and reserved for something sacred. It’s like… a vessel in the Temple—made of normal material, maybe, but it becomes sacred the moment it’s dedicated to God. Holiness is about use just a...