The Christian life and/or worldview often faces the intrigue of paradoxical truths. Being a random person it is not unusual for me to awaken in the morning to find a unique thought process emerging as I slowly emerge from a night of slumber. Today is no exception. It centers on the word “holy.” Holy or holiness is another one of those concepts that fits the category of a truth with two sides (paradoxical). The label “holy Joe” would represent on side of the tension of truth while the command “be holy as I am holy” sets the other paradigm. It is one thing to act holy and a totally different issue to respectfully honor the significance of who God creates us to be. The idea of holiness is simply understand that someone/something has been set aside/dedicated for a special purpose. To fulfill that destiny would be holy. Conversely, to fail to do so is unholy. Because sacredness/holiness is an unmerited gift it therefore leaves no room to be prideful peacocks parading around like “holy Joes” often do. Counterfeits will never pass for the real thing when facing the creator of all that is holy. Heaven will not be a masquerade party and for that reason alone it would be wise to drop the self deception or delusional pretence that as a Christian we are better than everyone else. Holiness is somewhat like humility in that you don’t have to deny you are holy or humble to be so. All that is needed is to walk in the reality that who we are is directly linked to the simple fact that we are created in the image of God (that makes us holy) and we messed it up. (That should humble us.) Because God is forbearing, gracious and merciful He sent His Son, full of grace and truth, to clean up the mess we made/make of our lives and to restore the sacredness of our holiness once again by the gift of His Son. For that we need to be forever humbly grateful. True holiness is never about looking good rather it is all about being respectfully grateful for the privilege of reflecting the sacred image of the One who makes all things possible. Every gift from God is undeserved, so Lord help me to live the gift of life of grateful holiness and evict any “holy Joe” in me that tries to crash the party.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Jul 2013 12:17:52 +0000
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