“As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said
“I am holy, you be holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16 MSG)
We don’t speak too much of holiness these days. We’ve dismissed it, sent it to the corner as ‘bad church’ and reduced it to long skirts, hair buns and long lists of rules to be followed. How far from the truth that perception is! Of course, I wasn’t there, in the early pentecostal church, but my best guess is that those traditions (commitment to modesty and a strong moral code about carousing) were merely expressions of the holiness they were pursuing. Unfortunately as the heart-fire faded, all we were left with was litigation and a younger generation saw it as legalism. They abandoned the heart behind the holiness movement: actual holiness.
This text reframes holiness. It’s an aversion to our old life and a desire to be remade God’s way. We aren’t resentful of this instruction, but delighted as children to grow up into the form of our Father. There’s no rebelliousness here, as in the old way of living. All that has been replaced with adoration for who He is and excitement about who He’s calling us to become.
I remember my own children. So full of wonder, so excited about the world we live in and the possibility of growing up to be like Mom and Dad. Small children enjoy their parents and trust them completely. They willingly submit to the escaping that takes place within the context of family. It’s not a difficult stretching but a natural bending as the child cooperates with the love of their parents.
This is holiness: our lived out submission to the Father because we love Him, because we delight in Him and we long to be made like Him.
This morning, John Eldredge handed me another truth: “As you become more whole, you become holier. And as you become holier, you become more whole.” I don’t need to ponder it deeply to instinctively know he’s right. My pursuit of holiness brought me to a crisis of wholeness. And it makes sense because Adam and Eve in the Garden before the Fall were both holy and whole. Nothing was missing. Nothing was amiss. Holiness is about just that: returning to restored relationship with God, making us whole again.
“May God Himself, who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together – spirit, soul, and body – and keep you fit for the coming of our master, Jesus Christ. The one whom you called is completely dependable. If He said it, He’ll do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 MSG)
Lord, we are so excited about wholeness. Make us enthusiastic about holiness, too. Help us see it isn’t about a list of rules to follow, but a relationship to pursue and protect. We are so glad to find
our home in You. Amen.