Be Holy as the Lord Is Holy

When I taught high school theology, on the first day of the semester, I had a student proudly walk into my sophomore morality class with a colorfully decorated binder. She showed off to me her cover picture of Moses holding two stone tablets. On the tablets was  written, “The Ten Suggestions.” She grinned at me as only a teenager  can, whimsically testing, as if to ask, “What do you, teacher, think  about my cleverness in re-casting the Ten Commandments?” with  a shrug of the shoulder of “Who do you think you are to tell me what I should do?” Having lived with teenagers at my house for the previous twenty years, I just nodded and smiled. It was going to be an interesting semester. 

In the world in which we live, what are we to do with ethical laws and commandments? Are they just “suggestions”? Are there any absolutes? Is anything always wrong? Is anything always right?  Is there anyone to Whom we are accountable? Is there really a test at the end of life, or is God such a “nice guy” that no one goes to hell?  Who is in charge anyway? 

My fifteen-year-old student presumed a world that was kind and benevolent. She may never have experienced killing and war and infidelity and betrayal. Her parents were probably good people.  Her friends may have been, too. If that were the case, then why did we need the ten “ethical suggestions”? Our access to God comes through Jesus and does not rely on our perfection, right? 

Right, but the flourishing of life certainly does. Forming the heart to love and be generous and prayerful and forgiving—this bears fruit, fruit that lasts, in relationships that are solid and enduring. A  holy life is a life worth living.

Consider/Discuss 

• In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus lays out clear principles for holy living,  commanding us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. Similarly,  the Levitical holiness code reveals how to be holy as God is holy. What does holiness look like in your life? Why does it matter to you? 
• Does someone you love dismiss ethical laws as though they were just  “suggestions”? What life stories could you tell to respond to that person? 

Living and Praying with the Word 

Lord, sometimes, we throw up our hands at what is happening in  our world. There are so many things that we cannot control. Help us  to make an impact in the small world in which we live, by living lives  of holiness and goodness and prayer. With your grace, please help us.  And bless all those who do not believe in you or follow you, for you  send blessings on the just and the unjust. We entrust all of that to  you—it is not ours, but yours. Thank you for taking this world and  carrying it for us.