I want to preface this commentary with a commentary on my commentary. I know, if you’ve told me once you’ve told me a thousand times to not be redundant, but it is what it is:
I will always endeavor to do my very best to keep this blog from being overtly (or even covertly) political in nature, to try to not be so preachy that it turns people off, but since this is the pastor’s blog, I felt that I needed to address a topic that I found somewhat troubling, and that made me think about something else that was important to me. Boy was that a gigantic run on sentence or what?
Here goes: In the past several months, we have had many opportunities to observe, directly and indirectly, by all types of media, a great deal of political rallies, speeches, various and sundry debates and commentaries, all of which came to a head this past November with an historic election of a new president.
My interests being more than just a casual observance of these events, I watched with somewhat of a critical eye not only the presenters, but those being presented to, on both sides of the equation. I found something eerily common, a thread that ran through the entire process if you will. It reminded me of a scripture reference:
Exodus 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
Where am I going with this and what does it have to do with the subject of holiness? Let’s get there together. Watching the people watching the speech makers was very unsettling. What I saw was people worshipping the creature rather than the Creator. They would nod their collective heads and cling on every word as if they came straight from the mountain top and were in the hands of Moses himself.
The fact is, no matter who was speaking, they did have one very important thing in common; they were human, just people, not prophets, not sages or soothsayers, not men that came from the heavens bringing glad or sad or bad news. They were not endowed with wisdom beyond their station. They were just men. None of them could even begin to explain to us how we should live our lives in the light of eternity. They have no more of an understanding what it means to be holy or to live a life of holiness than the very short lived fruit fly. Just men, nothing more.
So if these fairly intelligent well spoken individuals cannot impart on us the real meaning of living the kind of life that will please God, then who can? Who do we turn to that will give us the necessary tools to function at the highest of levels, to fulfill our grand purpose for being on this little ball we call earth? Good question! Let’s try to gain a little insight, establish some parameters if you will. Here are some quotes from some famous people about holiness:
Oswald Chambers, who penned the book ‘My Utmost for His Highest’ said this – “Holiness, not happiness, is the chief end of man.”
William Law, an English theologian from the 18th century wrote – “This, and this alone, is Christianity, a universal holiness in every part of life, a heavenly wisdom in all our actions, not conforming to the spirit and temper of the world but turning all worldly enjoyments into means of piety and devotion to God.”
The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14 – “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, with out which no man shall see the Lord.”
George Whitfield, an evangelist in England in the 1700’s penned these words – “It is an undoubted truth that every doctrine that comes from God, leads to God; and that which doth not tends to promote holiness is not of God.”
I have learned one thing from all of this wisdom; being holy is hard! The quote from William Law could and probably has caused a lot of folks to think that living a life that’s holy, of not following the creature, but following the Creator, can be one of cloister and separation, of self denial, of suffering and sacrifice, of forsaking anything that would give you selfish pleasures. A life that says all of those things that we humans so enjoy would need to be avoided. Wow! How can that kind of life be possible? Well, it’s not, except…
I have good news for you. I do not see the priesthood or a nunnery in your near or distant future! You can have all of those things. You know; pleasure happiness, joy, and even a little fun, and still live a life that would meet the standard that Oswald Chambers addressed. To me, and I’m no theologian, even though I’ve got a degree that says I could be if I had just stayed off of the basketball court and studied a little harder, where true holiness is concerned, where the desire to walk the walk and not just talk the talk, where being consistent and true to the One who gave us life really matters, the process becomes a joy rather than a burden.
You know what He did for us. He did all the heavy lifting, He made the necessary and hard decisions, and He gave the ultimate and most precious gift. All that he asks from us is that we live a life that is pleasing in His eyes.
You see, all we need to do is follow that other verse that I personally love so much in Romans chapter 12 verse 1 – “ I beseech ye therefore brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
Such a little thing to be holy. He said reasonable service. That’s what it means. You don’t have to go to some far away land and be a missionary and give up heart and home. You can be holy right here! Looking at holiness in that light makes a huge difference in our ability to live that way.
Bottom line: Holiness is about sacrifice, about following the Creator. But it’s also something that we can all do. Even me, and I’m just an ordinary guy.
