"Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy." (Leviticus 19:2b)
Holiness is a dull word these days, conjuring up images of fusty, finger-wagging prigs, who are good in the worst sense of the word, men and women with sullen, morose faces, full of rectitude and rigid duty, "on hold for the next life," as a Washington Post writer once put it.
True holiness, however, is anything but dull. It is startling and arresting. It's more than being decent, good, ethical, and upright. It has that aspect the Bible calls, "the beauty of holiness." It is what Paul has in mind when he calls on us to "adorn the gospel" (Titus 2:10).
Likewise, Peter writes, "Live such good lives among unbelievers that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us" (1 Peter 2:12). The word, here twice-translated "good," means "something beautiful to see."
This is the picture of holiness James draws for us, a portrayal that fascinates us and awakens us to the hope that we can be more than we ever hoped to be; that we too can live lives of uncommon beauty and grace. It can happen as we humbly receive it. "The LORD…will beautify the humble," Israel's poet assures us (Psalm 149:4).
This is also the picture of holiness that can fascinate our unbelieving friends and awaken in them the hope that there may, after all, be something more.
-- David Roper in “Growing Slowly Wise”
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