Holiness??? . . . Where it SHOULD begin!

It seems like every time the subject of holiness or sanctification is brought up outside of a group of pastors or seminary students that eyes begin to glaze over and people start to tune out.  I wonder why that is.  I don’t believe I have ever met someone who is open and seeking spiritually who didn’t want to know God and be used by Him in real and clear ways.  People want their lives to mean something, to count for something.  That SHOULD be where we begin in any discussion of holiness or sanctification. 

I believe sanctification can easily be defined like this:  to set something or someone apart for God’s holy purpose.

Talking about holiness, Eugene Peterson writes:

The unique thing about the holy is that it cannot be known or understood apart from entering it, apart from being formed by The Holy.  It is not a subject we learn from a book or a lecture.  We enter in . . . Holiness cannot be reduced to an emotional, devotional experience that we cultivate in order to “feel spiritual.”  It has command content to it.  Holiness is not an experience of sublimity that abstracts us from the world of work; it is an invitation to enter into what God is doing and intending to get done in the world.  And it’s for everyone . . . (The Jesus Way, p. 135, 137)

Over and over again the Bible talks about sanctification and holiness not as something we grab and hold, but a process or a journey we embark on for our entire life as followers of Jesus! 

What would our lives look like if we didn’t stop with studying the scriptures, but only used that study as a springboard for action?

What would our lives look like if our whole bodies, not just our mouths, were totally submitted to God to use for His good purposes? 

What would our lives look like if our love and devotion to God didn’t begin and end – or even peak – on Sunday morning, but permeated throughout the week in every aspect of our lives?

What would our lives look like if we began to grasp the idea that the most holy thing we might do in a given week is to listen with compassion to a hurting friend, to render aid to a complete stranger, to encourage our disappointed child, to thoughtfully and without fanfare give a hand to a stressed out spouse or to go the extra mile in our role as a volunteer? 

What would our lives look like if we willingly and gladly gave generously and sacrificially of our money and our resources not out of a sense of duty, but out of a devotion to set all things apart for God’s holy purpose?

I believe that is where holiness is, in questions just like that!  If we begin there, it might be controversial.  It certainly will be convicting and challenging.  But one thing is for sure . . . It won’t be irrelevant or boring!

What do you think?