Be Holy for I am Holy. Or else.

A promise, not a command. Being holy is a goal to live up to and not a rod for our back.

Amazed by Grace

For it is written: “Be holy, for I am holy.”

1 Peter 1:16

Often we’re taught we should ‘be holy’.

God is holy, so we should be holy.

But this is impossible. No one can be as holy as God.

That was The Law.

So, what does ‘holy’ mean?

We are sometimes taught that the Hebrew word for holy – quadosh – means ‘set apart’.

But set apart from what ?

The Bible Hub website says ‘holy’ means to be set apart from human impurity.

Set apart from sin.

Amen!

But who sets us apart?

Check this out in Hebrews:

We have been made holy by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, once for all.

– Hebrews 10:10

It is Christ who has made us holy. Christ who has set us apart from sin.

So, what does Peter mean by “Be Holy for I am Holy.”

Is it possible for us to ‘be holy’ by demand ?

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Be-ness

God created us to be human beings not human doings. There’s nothing wrong with doing things to for God but I truly believe God wants us to just be and rest in our be-ness* and to know that we are loved beyond measure and nothing can remove us from his love. As it has been said, there are no servants in God’s family…only sons and daughters. What does that mean?

I think it means we need to…

be thankful

be positive

be determined

be strong

be the church

be all you can be

but most of all, be His!

If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or we die, we belong to the Lord. Romans 14:8

You can’t give up hope because things look hopeless

Matthew Mitcham, Australian Olympic and Commonwealth Games gold and silver medalist, has this quote on his Facebook page “You can’t give up hope because it’s hopeless. You have to hope even more, and block your ears and go “blah blah blah blah blah blah blah…” ”

To be honest, I think most of us like to throw ourselves a pity party once in a while. However, if we wallow in self pity for too long, like sticky mud, hopelessness it will attach itself to us, seep into our very pores and can be really difficult to remove.

It’s easy to give up when things look grim, but God wants us to trust him and in turn, when we trust him we find safety and rest.

And you shall be secure and feel confident because there is hope; yes, you shall search about you, and you shall take your rest in safety. Job 11:18

How a little boy make a difference in God’s Kingdom.

Have you ever felt that you are too unimportant or ordinary to make a difference?   Maybe it’s time to think again.

 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). John 6:9-10

When you read the story of Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the 5000 people with bread and fish, you may notice that only the men are counted. Yet it was a boy, who wasn’t even counted, that supplied the basic bread and fish for Jesus to miraculously multiply.  

This boy isn’t named and most probably felt that he was just another kid in a village. However, he stepped up, offered what he had, and in doing so played a huge part in enlarging the kingdom of God.

So next time you feel ordinary, remember this boy and then remind yourself that no one is too unimportant to make a difference in the kingdom of God.

 

What really makes you Christian?

Letting Your Light Shine

It’s pointless turning on lights when you are standing in bright daylight, but when you are trying to find your way from one place to another in the dark, lighting become invaluable.

Recently new outdoor lights were installed in the property of one of our churches.   These new lights are great and while it’s not as bright as standing in daylight, it’s much easier to see the trees, their roots as well as the car park when you are on the grounds at night time.

Jesus said, “You are the light of the world” Matthew 5:14

So today, if you find yourself surrounded by darkness, turn on your light, let it shine and show the world Jesus who lives within you.

Loving God

Jesus said, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’  Matthew 22:37 (MSG)

I have often thought that if I only spoke with my husband once a week, if our conversations were one sided and I didn’t listen to him, if everything I said to him was written by someone else and if I didn’t put any extra effort into spending time with him, would that make him happy?  Would we have a relationship or would I just be his wife in name only?  

That’s about my relationship with my husband…but what about Jesus?  Several times in scripture, the church is referenced as the Bride of Christ, so have you ever wondered what loving God and being the Bride of Christ really means practically?  Or have you thought that its a nice idea in theory, but in real life the hour we spend in church each week should be enough to keep him happy? 

This week, I am sharing a quote by author Francis Chan, which really speaks to me about my part in maintaining my relationship with God. 

“When you are truly in love, you go to great lengths to be with the one you love. You’ll drive for hours to be together, even if it’s only for a short while. You don’t mind staying up late to talk. Walking in the rain is romantic, not annoying. You’ll willingly spend a small fortune on the one you’re crazy about. When you are apart from each other, it’s painful, even miserable. He or she is all you think about; you jump at any chance to be together. We need to be like this with God.”

May our ears be ready to hear God’s voice, may our hearts be open to his heart, and may we fall in love with Jesus a little more every day. 

Telling the truth

Sometimes we hold on to certain beliefs because they sit more comfortably than the possibility that we may not have all the answers or worse…we could be wrong about something. I believe God wants us to actually think about issues that affect us and affect our loved ones, rather than have pat answers for every situation under the sun.

Fridays with Phil

Why do you think what you think and believe what you believe? Are your thought patterns based on what you have heard your parents say? Are your beliefs based on a book you read decades ago?

Today, I want to challenge us to switch off the autopilot and not react to difficult questions based on yesterday’s understanding and beliefs.

Many of our reactive answers to complex challenges and ethical dilemmas come from the pressure to give an immediate answer. This is dangerous because it means we can neglect dedicating time to necessary research. Or even worse, we default to what past generations believed, based on what they knew to be true.

For example, there’s our stance on whether a sick person should be able to access medication not yet approved by our nation’s medical board or a terminally ill person’s decision to cease medical treatment altogether. How quickly we draw…

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A Marvelous Love

God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending Jesus to suffer and die so we could enter into religion. He sent Jesus in order for us to enter into a relationship with him. God’s biggest desire is for us to know him as a loving father who would do anything to spend time with his kids. After all, he didn’t make us robots that mindlessly carry out lists of tasks. God created us to be the objects of his love.   His love for us isn’t based on our performance or whether or not we love him back. He just loves his kids because we are his kids. And what an wonderful, amazing and marvelous thing it is to be called a child of God!

What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God!  1 John 3:1 (MSG)

Kingdom of Heaven

This week, my pastor challenged us to write our own parable based on Jesus parables of “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…” which are found in Matthew 13

This is my parable:

The kingdom of Heaven is like a dry cleaners ticket that has been freely given to you. You neither handed anything in to the dry cleaners nor paid for anything to be cleaned, yet you have the ticket to claim the item at any time.  Whether you take the ticket and claim the item or throw it in the garbage bin is your choice. However, if you do go and claim the item, you will find it is a beautiful coat that is perfectly tailored just for you. You then have a further choice to wear the coat or put it away in the wardrobe to wear on a ‘special’ occasion because you don’t want to get it dirty or damaged.
Only those see the value in the ticket will claim and wear the coat because they understand that the gift wasn’t random. They know and believe the ticket giver made the deliberate decision to hand his best coat to someone who couldn’t afford one any other way.  And besides that, it was his great joy to have his beautiful coat expertly and precisely tailored to fit each individual person perfectly.

 

I would love to know what people think of this…