Love and Holiness

You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy
(Leviticus 20:26a)

God is love.
(1 John 4:8b NIV84)

Holiness and love.
At first glance they may seem to be two different attributes of our Father God, but are they really?
Holiness in the old Covenant was performance based, follow the rules, DO THIS OR DIE.
But the New Covenant through Jesus rewrote the description of holiness; it is fueled totally by love, and her sisters, grace, mercy, hope, and faith.
His enduring lovingkindness towers above the wreckage we cause when we are not abiding with Him, and He is always there waiting, saying to us: "Are you done now, are you ready to come back home?"
Jesus wants to know from us: " Who do you say I am-to you?"
He is our Lord, our Master...He calls to us, whispers, shouts: I am-above all else-Love.
Every attribute of holiness is intertwined with this pure love, and every attribute of love is intertwined with holiness, and the Holy Spirit is He who conveys both to a surrendered heart, a heart prepared for Im-anu-el, God with us.
In this environment there is only the desire by the surrendered, the bride, to please the Bridegroom, whose desire is to do the will of the Father, the One who loved first, and sent Him to redeem us, showing us how to emulate love , displaying holiness.
As deep calls to deep, the Holy Spirit exclaims: "This is what love and holiness looks like".
Holiness looks like Jesus, motivated wholly and solely by the desire in us to please our Beloved.