Not gonna lie...I blanked. The only thing going through my mind was, "holy...is not me." I posted "what do I know about holy" to fb just to see what others had to say about the issue. Seems to me that all any of us really know about holy is that it isn't us.
SOOO...where do all wise people turn when they need a quick answer?...yep, I googled it.
Holiness - "A state of being sacred"
Sacredness - "Something that is venerable" (say what?)
Venerable - "impressive - due to age, character, wisdom or value."
Ok, so maybe google wasn't the best place to start. In Exodus 3:4-6 Moses takes off his shoes, because he is standing on holy ground. Does anyone else find it frustrating that dirt can be holy, yet we find it so difficult?
When the temple was being built, God instructed the room entered to be known as the holy of holies. The deepest room in the temple was the Most Holy Place....the place where God was. So is holiness all about proximity? God is holy...impressive, His presence demands change. The closer we get to God the more holy we become...the more our lives demand change. We become impressive in the sense that just as being in the presence of God changes us, being in our presence influences others. I envision this like getting so close to God that we become stained by him.
Ok, my new definition of holy- Being so close to God that I become stained by Him. I think I will go add that to Wikipedia now :-) Thanks for entertaining my middle of the night ramblings.
First, don't you just love those early morning God wake up calls!
ReplyDeleteI went to dictionary.com vs Google... and while there are other more secular sub-definitions, these point to what I believe God is trying to get us to understand...
" 1. of, relating to, or associated with God or a deity; sacred
2. endowed or invested with extreme purity or sublimity
3. devout, godly, or virtuous
the power, being, or realm understood by religious persons to be at the core of existence and to have a transformative effect on their lives and destinies."
As I understand it, "Holy" is a condition- "BE holy because I AM holy". it is "what" God is, therefore it is also "who" He is...tough to use those words for a 4 yr old...I like the last part of what I copied from dictionary.com...'core of existence and to have a transformative effect on their lives..."
However we explain it to a 4 yr old...which is a good start to breaking it down to really understand and explain to anyone...this is one of those things that does require conscious contemplative reflection and discernment from the Holy Spirit to be able to understand God's point of view and internalize and integrate into our lives on a daily basis...
Keep pondering and searching- the Holy Spirit will help you get His handle on it
I think the heart of Holy and of God is Love. We are close to God when we are Love just as He is Love. Not the cheap love of our society but Love as it is defined by his word. Cor 13 and more important the life of Jesus. When we are willing to give up the conforming politically religious answers and respond to people the way Christ did (rich young ruller, women at the well, relating to sinners.)We will become Holy and close to God.
ReplyDeleteGood thoughts Tom and Dad. Thanks for posting. Dad, our sermon this week was on Cor 13...good stuff.
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