Holiness part 1
Buzzwords are a big thing these days, aren't they? Something that you can say that will prompt a response. And look no farther than the church world if you want to find a grip of them! Take something like "holiness" for example. (Good pick, we're going to look at just that for the next few days.) We throw this word around without an extremely strong grasp of what it means. Because it seems as though we've taken it to mean, "following the rules." Just as we've taken "perfect" to mean, well, following the rules. We seem obsessed with the rules! Perfection is maturity. So let's get that out of the way. And in the New Covenant there is only one "rule." A New Commandment for the New Man. Love one another as Jesus loves you. So, even by that definition--and the point I'm going to try to make in this Rant series--the most holy (and perhaps the ONLY holy) thing you can do... is love someone. Look at 1 Peter 1:13-16 in the New Living Translation, "So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God's obedient children. Don't slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn't know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, "You must be holy because I am holy."" A few things here. I love how it starts off with action and self-control. Because self-control doesn't mean do nothing... it means do the right thing. Just as rest is not inactivity, it is Holy Spirit directed activity. That's important. Love is maximum effort. You can't ever do more than to love someone. Which doesn't mean you have to overwhelm people. Love is not always big and loud. It can be soft and sweet. Depending on what the situation calls for, love comes in all different shapes and sizes. So then we see why and how we can even BE holy. And what we see is that it's not about US at all. Put all your hope in Jesus. Man! Those are words to live by, aren't they? Live as an obedient child. More good advice. Don't go back to the way things were. Once you know better you can do better. Like G.I. Joe says, "Knowing is half the battle. Then DOING what you know is the other half. Preparing your mind for action, and then exercising self-control. Understanding what it means to be holy... and then being what (and WHO--Jesus, love) you are! Here's the most important part of the whole deal: Be holy in everyting you do... just as God is holy. And, by the way, that doesn't mean try to emulate Him. It means accept that His holiness IS your holiness. God is holy. Period. Full stop. So any holiness we could hope for HAS to come from Him. He IS our holiness. Because He is love. God is love, and He loves you. That's the ultimate truth of the universe. And when you know that you ARE loved... that's when you CAN love. When you know that HE is holy, and He lives in you (and through you, and as you) that's when you can experience His holiness. Be ye holy as He is holy does not mean try to be like God. It means because God lives in you, you can experience Him. As He is, so are we in this world. His holiness is our holiness. What's inside comes out, as we know and believe that it's in there. As we fill ourselves to overflowing with what He has already filled us with. Here's my point though, and here's where we're going in this Rant series: Love is holy. If you want to be holy, you have to receive and release the love of God. To me it's that simple. And to me that clears up a lot of misconceptions!