Holy, What?

"Be holy, as I am holy."

"That's in the Old Testament!" (Leviticus 11:45, and six other places in the OT) I have heard that as a defense against taking this literally. Hmmm, yes, but it is repeated in the New Testament.... Sorry. That argument doesn't hold up. (In the NT four times, 1 Peter 1:15-16) How about the argument: "nobody can be perfect!" This is true, but don't you think God was aware of our condition when He called us to this high task of reaching for His holiness standard? The answer is "yes" in case you don't know that God is completely aware of everything that was, is and will be. So, God, in His all-knowingness, commanded us who follow Him to be holy... Just like Him.  I don't know about you, but this seems like a very high, and impossible calling. Let’s explore this together...

Why would my loving Father ask me to do something He full-well knew I was incapable of doing? I mean, He knows me, how messed up I am, and He knows this world I live in... This world doesn't really care for me getting all "sacred and holy" on them. If I try to be holy, or sacred (essentially the same meaning), my life will get more difficult... I might even get ridiculed. (Heaven forbid!) People feel judged! Have you ever noticed that when you are on a diet and really watching what you eat, those not interested in exercising caloric restraint get uncomfortable around you? I am a runner, and I eat very carefully because I want to stay a particular weight and body size, so this happens to me relatively often. I'll be eating my tuna and drinking my protein shake and someone will walk by with a huge meal, or a big piece of cake... They may not say anything, but I get the look. That "you think you’re holier than me" look... They actually feel as if I am calling them “fat” when I hadn’t said a word! Now I'm getting judged that I am judging them. I have had this happen as well: someone starts talking about a particular show and are surprised when I say I have never seen it. When they look at me like I’m crazy I simply explain that I refuse to watch the show because I believe it is unfit for a man striving for holiness. You’d think I had just accused them of being the devil himself! For example, some of you will feel judged as soon as you read this statement: I have never (and will never) watched Beavis and Butthead, or Southpark. Admit it... Those of you who like these shows just felt judged by me... (Please get over it.. I’m just making a point. And yes, I do not watch those shows…)

Why is this so? Let's start at the command: I am called to be as sacred as God is sacred, even though I won't be able to reach that high standard. (If I could be perfectly sacred, then Jesus wouldn't have needed to come and die for me. But we will dig into that more later.) I hear the command, and I determine that I want to honor my Father by pursuing that perfect ideal. What happens next? Two things: the first is that I seek to know Jesus, because to really understand the standard of perfection, the best example of someone seeking holiness is Jesus himself. He, fully God and fully man, lived a perfectly holy life. For me to understand the call, and the ideal, knowing Jesus is the best method of knowing what "being sacred" looks like. It's kind of like being handed a bow and arrow and asked to hit the bulls-eye... You'd better know where the target is before you draw the bow and let the arrow fly! Jesus is the bulls-eye! Knowing and following Him is how we live holy, sacred lives… live like Him.

Second, we have to start being honest with ourselves. We have to live a life examined thoroughly. To do that, we are pretty much going to have to have someone help us keep watch over our lives... We need accountability. It is too easy to lie to ourselves. Most of us will agree that to be a successful salesperson, we set goals, track our numbers, and constantly evaluate the results of our activities to judge whether we will hit our goals, or if we need to adjust our activities. Sure, there are a few anomalies where a salesperson closed some major deals and had some banner years, but to be successful year in and year out, it always comes down to accountability. If you are seeking to be a top-producing salesperson, accountability is the key. It is the same for you if you are seeking to be as holy as Jesus was when He was walking this earth. Accountability.

Clearly this could be a bigger discussion, but let's just work with those two ideas... If the command, "Be holy" makes me seek Jesus, and makes me more willing to be held accountable, then that is good right?! I'm not going to go as far to say that God is calling us to do something we can't do just so that we participate in activities that are good for us… that sounds a little like manipulation. But I will say that regardless of why, the end result is that we will know Jesus better, and we will live in a community of accountability. These things are so very good, and please our Father in heaven. I’m all for pleasing the One who made me, loves me, and desires for me an abundant life!

To close this down: all of this leads us to the realization that we in fact cannot be completely and perfectly sacred, and that we need help. We need to be rescued. We need a Savior... Good thing we know Him! Jesus came to be the example, to be sacred, and then, to pay the price for our sin so that we could live in the freedom of receiving the reward for holiness at the end of this earthly life, despite our inability to earn the reward by our own efforts. It is for freedom that we have been set free. (Galatians 5) Righteousness, perfection, sacredness, are imputed by our faith in Him who actually lived perfectly righteous and sacred and holy. We live a life that honors Father out of gratitude and from a heart desiring to give praise and thanksgiving. And when we fail, we seek forgiveness and help to be more like Jesus.

The question, then, is how do we live a sacred life in a world so full of un-sacredness? How do we remain steadfast when the systems of this world are skewed against righteousness, and the mentality of “the end justifies the means” reigns? Well, that’s why I write… to challenge you to challenge yourself. It has to come from inside you – God works on us from the inside out. Like a raging storm, our environment wars against those who want to be close to God, in His sacred presence. There is nothing I can write, no clever line or turn of phrase will be the elixir to make everything easy. Pursuing the sacred has never been easy… but it is simple. Fix your eyes on Jesus. He is the example of how we live the way Father has called us to live.

I look forward to considering more about what this pursuit looks like in the life of a salesperson… C’ya soon!