| | "Set yourselves apart for a holy life. Live a holy life, because I am GOD, your God." -Leviticus 20:7
Today was a triumphant day. I was reading this verse out of The Message (or, the Old-Guy-Trying-To-Sound-Cool-Person's-Bible, as some of my friends refer it) and the way Eugene put "live" in italics caught my eye. Hmmmm. So you know what i did? That's right. I went to the original Hebrew. 2 Points for Michele using her edumacation.
You know what i found? Eugene was right. It's not "be holy" (as i'm sure other scriptures are), but it's "live holy". My "above the line" translation was "and you will make yourselves holy... and you will live holy-ily because I am your God, Adonai."
So, this brings a little struggle... what's the difference from being holy and living holy? And, i just have to say it, there are a few connotations that comes with the "be holy" that i don't particularly love. In our most recent American context, it's had to do a lot more with what movies i watch and what products (that i would need to show ID for) that i consume. To me, there's got to be something more to holiness than that, though i think those things can/will/have lead to some disasterous consequences that God does not like. But if we limit holiness to what i consume or watch, than where is God in that? Any hoo-haa off the street can decide that they're going to stop smoking and watch only the crazy christian channel, but is that what composes faith?
I am a firm believer that faith means something. It is evidenced. If it had no implication for my life, then why bother? So i know that there are places in my life that when you stop and examine them, one should be able to say, "she's this way because of her faith in Jesus."
My question is this: what are those areas? Where are the places that are most critical that Jesus have an impact on?
Maybe it's the simplistic "all of them." Maybe i shouldn't want to throw one thing out to go after another, and instead i should just keep adding to the places that Jesus has ruined my life (in the good but hard way). Part of me wants to say "holiness isn't just this... that's not what faith means! because if it is, then we miss this whole other area over here..." but then i get to looking at the "over here" and forget that holiness affects areas much larger than just that. I'm trading one narrow view for another.
Why must we decide if it's personal holiness over social holiness? What i put in my mouth or what comes out of my heart? Maybe it's, as kristy says, "a little from column A and a little from column B."
Maybe that's why "live holy" grabbed me. It's not just a state of being, which in my paralyzing fear makes me not want to do anything because i might suddenly become unholy (in my mind i think of germaphobes who won't leave their house because they might get sick... but in staying couped up they expose themselves to their own germs and thus get sick on their own filth). Instead, it's approaching each area of life itself in a way that says, "God is Here." As I move about, as I live, there is a sense of God invading it. It's not just staying where it's safe, where i can keep my holiness. It's moving and living with a sense of God's presence- and because God is there, well, you'd better watch your step. You'd better not do what you know He doesn't like (in this chapter's example it's have sex with the wrong people, such as your mother, or a donkey).
3 cheers for a 3-year education having a little practical use.
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| | Posted 5/24/2007 9:37 AM - 12 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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