Saturday, January 24, 2015

Notes from Seminary (7): On the Challenge to be Wholly Holy (Holy-moly)

What a powerful challenge, to be wholly holy. I think of myself as more wholly broken. I realized that God was looking for me after I made a mess of my life. I first really saw Him in my most broken state. I haven't let go of that moment and that is the way that I still see God. I see Him available and reaching to me when I felt I was the most worthless and lost.
It changed my life that day. I realized that God was real and that His existence meant more than my circumstance. I knew Him to be holy, and I felt Him seeking me. It was His great and unexplainable love for me, even in my broken state, that shattered my hard heart and made me desperate to live my life for this Holy God who loves me. 
When I meet people, they're nearly always hurting. I usually find myself telling them that I know what it is like to be broken. I tell them of my experience with God who seeks us in our broken state. He did not intend for us to be broken, and He has been seeking to restore us since the day that humanity turned its collective face away from Him, seeking knowledge, fulfillment, and meaning elsewhere. The tree in the garden was our first idol. We've made countless ones ever since. 
How then should I live? I live in desperation to seek the face of the One who made me. Who came to restore me at the cost of great sacrifice. I seek to live a life that is patterned after God the Son who walked this earth. And I don't measure up. Ever. I'm a hard-headed, conclusion-jumping, misstepping goof-ball who gets something wrong every day. I am still in the process of being restored. I wander at times for months as I must be further discipled. 
God's grace has brought me to a place of restoration, and His great love compels me to seek Him deeper. This leads to an ethical life. My walk must have integrity with my belief. It's no different no matter where we find ourselves. As we pass by, do people know that they were near a God follower?

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