The Way of Holiness

We are studying Ephesians in Sunday School during the summer months. I absolutely love this letter. It has long been one of my favorites of the Epistles. This is largely due to a title it was given in my old Student Bible. During a particularly frustrating time in my journey, I discovered Ephesians. I flipped open my Bible and found this title: A Book for the Discouraged. It was like a personal invitation from God to dig deep into the letter. I devoured it and have returned to it over and over again in my journey. I hope it blesses you the way it blesses me every time I read it.

The beauty of Ephesians is that it is not only an encouraging book. This book will also challenge you if you will let it. If you let Paul's words sink in, you will not be able to finish the book unchanged for the better. This letter to the Ephesians will free you from the status quo and take you to deeper places in your walk if you really pay attention. Allow it to encourage, convict, and inspire you and you will never be the same.

One of the major themes in the letter is holiness. That is not something we talk about in everyday conversation. If you're like me, just the word holy conjures up some uptight and rigid images that I would rather not associate myself with as a Christian. Then there are the more positive images and thoughts of people who I really would consider holy. Some of these people I know personally, others I have only come to know through my love affair with the saints of the ages and church history in general.

Holiness is not something we talk about everyday, but we should be encountering it in each other everyday. Holiness is our calling as Christians. We are called to pursue holiness because God himself is holy and demands the same of us (see Leviticus 11:44a). And what is holiness but simply recognizing our need for God and seeking His holy face?

Wesley called the pursuit of purity "holiness of heart and life." I think it is safe to say that all of us long for that phrase to fit us and describe us. In your pursuit of holiness, remember that the journey begins by sitting down and letting God lavish his love on you.

I leave you with these wise words on holiness from Frederick Buechner. May we all see the other way of being human in this world that is holiness. I daresay if we would our world would never be the same.

"It is in Jesus, of course, and in people whose lives have been deeply touched by Jesus, and in ourselves at those moments when we also are deeply touched by him that we see another way of being human in this world, which is the way of holiness." - Frederick Buechner