Monday, July 15, 2013

Be Holy Like God...

Over and over in the first few books of the Bible, the writer encourages the nation of Israel with the following phrase...

"Be holy because I (God) am holy."

This comes frequently on the heels of some law such as laws of cleanliness, relationships or worship. It is an exhortation to the nation of Israel to remember that if they truly are to belong to God, they must become like Him.

We are given the same exhortation in the New Testament as well (1 Peter 1:16). So, the implication is that a true test of following God is that we are in essence becoming like Him. By extension, the tendency is that if we are following Him, He is in the process of making us pure, set apart for Himself.

The Israelites, as they were becoming the community of Israel, were a nation called out to be set apart to show the world what a God-following nation was supposed to look like. It is the reason for the giving of the laws. It is the reason that God called them and set them apart. Not because of who they were but for the sake of making His glory known among the nations. They were to be different from the Jebusites, Hittites, Perrizites, etc. They were to be a "holy" people living by, for and in God's law.

Today, more than ever, we as followers of Jesus Christ need to be a set apart people. We need to be "holy" in an impure and fallen world. We must strive to become Christ in our chaotic cultures and we must, at the same time, yield to God and His Spirit and allow Him to transform and conform us to the image of His Son, Jesus.

The world today cries out for a true, set apart people of God. I believe that all of creation leans forward in expectation to see that true community of believers, those belonging to God, who are set apart and holy in a marred world. The eager anticipation is that there will be and is a community set apart, living according to God's plan, destined to fulfill the imagery of becoming like Christ. In a society and world today that seems to lack any sort of moral compass or direction, the world longs for a true north community, under God, honoring His laws and His principles.

So, be holy...

For the glory of God the Father...

For your/our mutual benefit...

For a testimony to all the nations...

(Micah 4:5) "Though all the peoples each walk in the name of their gods, we will walk in the name of Yahweh our God forever and ever..." 

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