How great the power and charm of a holy life! The world is replete with beauty. There is beauty in nature, beauty in art, beauty in countless forms; but there is no beauty like “the beauty of holiness.” The brightness which gleams through a good man’s life outshines the sun in its meridian splendor.—Octavius Winslow
Holiness, or, quite simply, the state of being sanctified (or set-apart from the world) unto God, is, I believe, that one trait which I think distinguishes the follower of Jesus from any and every other person on the face of the planet. While we are to be known by our love (see John 13:35), the ever-present loving-kindness of God, when it is expressed in and through us as individuals, is enabled and channeled through the conduit of our own personal holiness.
God, Who is holy by definition, is set apart from all creation unto Himself. We, as redeemed children of God, are holy, too, by virtue of the declarative will of Him Who has chosen to set us apart. To be set-apart for service by God is an honor that is difficult to articulate adequately, let alone, well. God, in His wisdom, holiness, and loving-kindness, has chosen to use us to fulfill His holy purposes in creation. We have been "branded" by Him to live-in to His plan to bring about the reconciliation of all things. When I write of this branding, it is my desire to convey the following similar, and yet different, thoughts: (1) I believe we are branded by God for identification similar to the way in which a shepherd or rancher might brand livestock; and (2) I believe we are branded by God with His holy Name in a manner similar to the way a textile manufacturer might brand a line of clothing. The seal (or branding insignia) of God, however, is His Blood, which cleanses us, His Word, which He has written upon our hearts, and His Spirit, Whom He has sent to live within each of us.
Jesus, when He came to earth as a man, was branded by God for a very special purpose: Principally, to make a way for humanity to be reconciled to God and, as such, to become "fully" human again. Sin, as I wrote of in part one, has been cataclysmic to all of us. Its devastation is so systemic and far-reaching that, without the work of God, all of us will remain, hopelessly and forever, bound and chained to the continuous cycles of sin begetting death and death begetting more sin. Sin dehumanizes and kills us because, with each sin we commit, we become less and less like God, Who is by definition Life. In a manner, all of us in our sin have become like monsters and, as such, are in desperate need for God to do something for us that we cannot do for ourselves: And that is, to make us human again.
With respect to our branding, did you know that as followers of Jesus we have been branded with the very same branding with which Jesus was branded? All of us—and there are no exceptions—have been appointed (and anointed) to carry on Jesus' particular "brand" of ministry in the world, and that is, of reconciling creation and making things (especially people) whole again.
Holiness (set-apartness, brandedness) is neither a practice nor a set of practices. No. While it may (and, most-likely, should) affect our behavior, it is not the behaviors themselves. Rather, it is an identification and a declaration/proclamation. And it carries with it a sentence: The universal, take-up-your-cross-and-follow-Me (Jesus) sentence that calls each of us to die to ourselves and to the world so that we might be used by God to help redeem humanity and to infuse the abundant life of God back in to everyday living.
Try as you may, if you are a follower of Jesus, you cannot escape this sentence. Just as it was carried out in Jesus' life, so, too, will it be carried out in yours. And in mine. While the general term "sentence" may carry a negative connotation, the "sentence" that follows upon your set-apartness by God is anything but negative. In fact, living-in to this particular sentencing brings with it the greatest of all delights: The fullness that comes with identifying with Jesus through the surrendering of your life unto Him. There really is no greater honor, my friends. Or calling. Your branding, your set-apartness, God's declaration of holiness over you, will and should affect who you are and how you live-out the remainder of life here on earth.
Prayer of Holiness
Holy Father...
There is no one like You. You stand alone in Your uniqueness as all things are for You and find their existence and continuance in You. Thank you, Father, for setting me apart, for declaring me holy and consecrated unto You and for Your service. Dear God, I choose in this moment to take up my cross and to follow Jesus in His Ways of set-apart-ness. May I indeed be a conduit of your reconciling power in the world, and may my knowledge of all this affect everything I do and say throughout the course of my life.
I ask all of this in the Name of Jesus of Nazareth, my Lord and Savior, and the Author and Finisher of my life and faith,
Amen.
In the next post, I will, Lord-willing, continue writing of these things by exploring a few significant ways in which Jesus' set-apartness affected how He approached His own life as a human being. I want to do this because these things are what I believe made Jesus so beautiful. In my heart, I feel that these very things are the essential ways of living and being that can enable us to reclaim our rightful place as image-bearers of Elohiym.
Until then, may God's peace be with all of you...
Dave
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