WE ARE CALLED TO BE HOLY

“As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”  (1 Peter 1:14-16 NIV)

Although our God is caring and compassionate, holiness cannot tolerate wrongdoing and evil. They simply cannot coexist. God’s indignation at evil is consuming and complete.

God’s anger with us is assuaged in Christ Jesus, yet we still are called to be holy because God is holy.

Is there anything in your life, past or present, that cannot dwell alongside God’s holiness? Is there anything for which you need to ask forgiveness?

As an act of confession, list your wrongdoings. Confess them to the Lord who “protects those who take refuge in Him” (Nahum 1:7).  Roll up that piece of paper, and throw it away or burn it. Experience the joy that comes from letting God cleanse you from all your sin.  

-- From “The Meeting God Bible (NRSV): Growing in Intimacy with God Through Scripture” 

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HOLY IS THE LORD

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.”   (Isaiah 6:3 NIV)

The idea of holiness is so central to biblical teaching that it is said of God, “Holy is His name” (Luke 1:49). His name is holy because He is holy. He is not always treated with holy reverence. His name is tramped through the dirt of this world. It functions as a curse word, a platform for the obscene. That the world has little respect for God is vividly seen by the way the world regards His name. No honor. No reverence. No awe before Him. 

-- R.C. Sproul in “The Holiness of God”

#6446

A WAKEFUL FAITH

If wakeful Christians harbor a wish for heaven to fulfill, they wish not for an escape from reality, but for a deeper acquaintance with reality. When wakeful Christians lament this life, they grieve this world’s trivialization of itself that obscures the more profound reality of the Kingdom of God in our midst. Yet, more often wakeful Christians celebrate life, finding the mark of God’s hand in this world and beginning their praise with the discovery of the holy here. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory,” the seraphim sang. (Isaiah 6:3) Wakeful visions of other worldly praise reveal angels singing of God’s reign on earth as it is in heaven. 

-- J. Marshall Jenkins in “A Wakeful Faith”

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INFLUENCING OTHERS

“As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”  (1Peter 1:15-16 ESV)

Influence grows out of worship. Without that preoccupation, we have nothing to give a cynical, desperately unhappy, and unsettled world.

In 1966, during the closing service of the World Congress on Evangelism in the Kongresshalle in Berlin, Germany, Billy Graham spoke of the need for “a gentleness and a kindness and a love and a forgiveness and a compassion” that will mark us as different from the world. “We must be a holy people,” he said.

As an illustration of the power of personal holiness, he spoke of the conversion of Dr. H. C. Morrison, founder of Asbury Theological Seminary. He described a day many years before when Morrison, as a farm worker, was plowing in a field. Looking down the road, he saw an old Methodist circuit rider coming by on his horse.

Morrison had seen the elderly gentleman before and he knew him to be a gracious, godly man. As he watched the old saint go by Morrison felt the power of God’s presence, and a great sense of conviction of sin came over him. He dropped to his knees. And there, between the furrows in his field, alone, he gave his life to God.

When he concluded the story, Billy Graham earnestly prayed, “Oh, God, make me a holy man, a holy man.” 

-- David Roper in “A Beacon in the Darkness: Reflecting God’s Light in Today’s World”

#5235

THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS

"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” 

#5122

GOD’S TRUTHS

 “Make them holy by Your truth; teach them Your Word, which is truth.”  (John 17:17 NLT)

God’s truths are not bricks to throw at people, nor are they laws to be rewritten, nor are they trash to put out at the curb.

God’s truths are bread to feed the hungry, directions to guide the lost, power to help the addicted, strength to support the weak, hope to transform the sinner, eternal life to comfort the dying. 

– Author Unknown

#5116

GOD’S WAYS LEAD TO LIFE

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”  (Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV)

God wants us to know more than His character; He also wants us to learn His ways. You see, God’s ways are not our ways. We cannot know how God acts unless He teaches us. God is infinitely wise. He sees the future. He understands our world and everything that takes place in it. God knows the eternal consequences of every action, of every act of obedience or disobedience to His Word. God’s ways lead to life. His ways bring joy. They are holy and perfect. Doing things God’s way is always best. 

-- Henry Blackaby, Richard Blackaby and Claude King in “Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God”

#5077

SUFFERING ON THE CROSS

"He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed."  (1Peter 2:24 ESV)

During my senior year in high school, I took an art history survey course taught by a dynamic and passionate art lover. Ms. Giles, with her colorful, stylish clothes and contagious enthusiasm, trained us to analyze and appreciate art in all its diverse genres and media, from the art of the ancient Greeks to the art of surrealist, abstract, and post-modern painters and sculptors. Some time periods and artists I appreciated more than others.

One day Ms. Giles pulled me aside after class for a gentle conversation. "I noticed you weren't looking at some of the slides today, Sharon," she said. "Is anything wrong?"

The slides that day were primarily paintings of the crucifixion, and I couldn't bear to look. I made some excuse about feeling squeamish with some of the gory depictions. But more than that, I found the paintings disturbing because they were too close and confrontational. At that point in my life, I was far more comfortable with an empty cross, a sanitized cross, the kind I could wear around my neck on a gold or silver chain on Sundays. I didn't want to look at Jesus suffering upon it. 

-- Sharon Garlough Brown, excerpted from her newsletter

#5065

THE MAIN THING

Jesus said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."  (Matthew 28:19-20  NIV)

In his book “First Things First,” Steven Covey writes, "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing!" As faithful members and leaders of the... church, our challenge is to make sure that we are clear that the MAIN THING is to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. It is to remind us over and over again that the primary mission of the church is that of making disciples of Jesus Christ.

...We are sent out to tell the world one thing. One thing! One simple, holy thing. We are to tell the world what God has done for us and what mercy God has shown us. Nothing else can give life to the world that needs Christ. Nothing else can heal our world but the mercy of God! Only the Savior...

-- U.M. Bishop Robert C. Morgan, in a letter to United Methodist congregations around the world, Nov. 9, 1999

#4957

BEING STYLED BY GOD’S GRACE

“Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”  (1 Peter 1:13b-16)

Though we may seem to be doing nothing worthwhile in this world, we can be doing everything worthwhile if our lives are being styled by God’s grace. Set aside through sickness or seclusion, we can still be immensely prolific. Bed-ridden or house-bound, our holiness by itself can yet bear fruit. We don’t have to be good for anything to be useful; just good.

Good people do more good than they ever know. Lighthouse keepers never know how many ships they have turned away from the rocks. Their duty is to shine, not look for results. 

-- David Roper in “A Beacon in the Darkness: Reflecting God’s Light in Today’s World”

#4946

THE FULL RANGE OF GOD’S ATTRIBUTES

“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”  (1 Peter 1:14-16 ESV)

Sadly, precisely because our culture finds it relatively easy to believe that God is a God of love, we have developed notions of God’s love that are disturbingly spongy and sentimental and almost always alienated from the full range of attributes that make God, God. 

-- D. A. Carson in “The God Who Is There: Finding Your Place in God’s Story”


#4540

A FORCE STRONGER THAN HATE

“Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the LORD. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” (Hebrews 12:14-15)

Grace is Christianity's best gift to the world, a spiritual nova in our midst exerting a force stronger than vengeance, stronger than racism, stronger than hate.

-- Philip Yancey in “What's So Amazing About Grace?”

#4151

HOLY TRINITY

"Holy, holy, holy!  Lord God Almighty!
All Thy works shall praise Thy name, in earth and sky and sea.
Holy, holy, holy!  Merciful and mighty,
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity."  (Reginald Heber)

God the Father is the giver of Holy Scripture; God the Son is the theme of Holy Scripture; and God the Spirit is the author, authenticator, and interpreter of Holy Scripture.

-- J. I. Packer


#3465

SUBSTITUTE SACREDS

A society that denies the supernatural usually ends up elevating the natural to supernatural status.  Annie Dillard tells of experiments in which entomologists entice male butterflies with a painted cardboard replica larger and more enticing than the females of their species.  Excited, the male butterfly mounts the piece of cardboard; again and again he mounts it. "Nearby, the real, living female butterfly opens and closes her wings in vain."

C. S. Lewis uses the phrase "sweet poison of the false infinite" to describe this same tendency in the human species.  We allow substitute sacreds, or false infinites, to fill the vacuum of our disenchanted world.

-- Philip Yancey in Rumors of Another World


#3071