Not long ago I wrote about guarding our minds and hearts by being careful about what we allow ourselves to be exposed to in the world. I said that the same way that we have to be very careful about eating clean food, we likewise have to be very careful about what we put into our minds because what we consume, like food, can either nourish us or harm us.
This message directly relates the the Christian doctrine of holiness. The subject of holiness is a tricky one and can often times make people a bit uncomfortable, both Christians and non-Christians alike. For believers, when we hear the word “holy”, it can conjure up all sorts of negative feelings, namely guilt and anxiety. The word “holy” has a tendency to remind us of our many faults, as it is often times synonymous with “moral perfection”. It reminds us of a seemingly impossible standard that in our heart of hearts we know that we will never live up to.
But what is holiness? What does it mean to be holy? What does it mean when the Bible says, “Be holy as your father in heaven is holy” (1 Pet 1:15)? The Oxford English Dictionary defines “holy” as, “morally and spiritually excellent”. This is true, but holiness is more nuanced than this. The Bible defines “holy” as, “set apart”. This means that to be holy is to be different; to subscribe to a code of ethics that does not collude with the code of ethics of a broken world. Christians are to frame their lives, their thoughts, and their behavior by the example of Jesus. So, when Jesus say, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” he’s saying that we are to subscribe to every strand of DNA in the Christian ethical code.
Most of the time, when we think of that code of ethics, we think of the “Thou shall nots…”. This is perfectly appropriate, but I want to propose another way of thinking about it. Rather than being a list of “do nots”, being holy is also a list of “dos”. Namely, loving and serving people. Rather than thinking about obeying the command to holiness in terms of all of the things Christians can’t do, we should think of it in terms of taking on the challenge of loving, I mean properly and truly _loving_ , each individual we encounter. What would the world look like if the church responded to the call to holiness this way?
The call to holiness is not a burden, but an opportunity. It’s a chance for the church to be a place in the world where the love, care, grace, and mercy of God can be dispensed into a hurting world. With this in mind, Jesus’ words, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” seem reasonable. God loves each of us perfectly and selflessly. Can we respond to the challenge? Be holy as Jesus is holy. Love people as Jesus loved people.
