Skip to main content

Holy

           He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, (II Timothy 1:9)

          This passage hit on just a right day. There may be more than one day that would have been just the right day for it, but today is one. Someone from one of my writing groups asked what would make a character a strong woman, and six ideas popped into my head. So now, what makes a life a holy life?

          According to one source, holiness means apartness, separateness, or sacredness. For our life to be holy, it must be separated, different from the lives people around us live. For some, the idea is to go off somewhere away from everyone else to live according to a set of rules. Oh, that sounds so tempting sometimes.

          Another source suggests that it is specifically separation from defilement. Again, this produces a long list of rules about what you can, or must, or cannot, or must not do. In this case, our lives don’t have to be different from everyone else’s, just different from the “bad guys” – whoever we define as bad guys.

          The problem with these is that they are negative definitions. The focus seems to be on what we’re to separate from. There’s usefulness to that, but that’s the difference between Eve’s argument against temptation and Jesus’. Eve’s focus was on the fruit of the tree, and how she was to be separate from it. Jesus’s focus was on God.

          According to the Merriam Webster, holy means “exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness.” Now there’s something to strive toward. No, we can never achieve “perfect in goodness and righteousness” and the goal shouldn’t be that others consider us worthy of devotion. But what if our goal were simply to live in a way that is exalted and worthy?

          Still another source says that in the New Testament, “holy” carries with it a sense of heaviness or weight of glory. This doesn’t mean we throw our weight around, but that we live our lives in a way that has weight, that makes an impact on the world in a positive, God-ward direction. It’s a life in which what we do matters. And this is what God meant for us from before the beginning of time.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen!

  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)            Do you like roller coasters? I don't. You spend forever climbing a hill. You get to the top and have half a second, then you race down to a low point. Sometimes the racing down involves tying your insides into knots. At the bottom, you either have to be dragged up another hill or you get off the ride. Peter's life was a roller coaster from the time he met Jesus. There would be miracles, and then Jesus would teach things that didn't always make sense, and then they'd go out and perform miracles, and return to be taught. Peter was praised for giving the right answer to "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus said that said answer came from God. Peter was at the top of the hill.            ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayer Lists

                 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (I Peter 2:2-3)   In connection with what I wrote yesterday about the possibility that I’m wrong, I’m feeling the need to go back to basics - craving spiritual milk because somehow, I missed something. It’s a little embarrassing, craving milk like a newborn, but the truth probably is that we are newborns many times in many ways in our lives. From God’s perspective, we may never be anything more than newborns, forever needing that milk. On the other hand, being a newborn can also be exciting because so much is new. My mind is playing pinball - ricocheting from one idea to the next and through six more before it happens to hit the third again. The main topic is prayer. I have at least seven organizing structures all somewhat influenced by the movie War Room , which I’v...
Post a Comment
Read more