Community Bible Experience: Day 26

Day 26 of our 40 days in the New Testament. I think at this point many are caught in between a sense of "almost there" and "three more weeks?" We have come a long way and I know we are probably getting up and looking at the reading as a chore at some level, but don't let that happen. Let's keep "fixing our eyes on Jesus" as we persevere all the way to the end.

Speaking of getting our focus on Jesus, the book we are reading today has that verse in it. As we enter the book of Hebrews, I hope that we might get the big picture of what the writer is truly saying: There is no one, no thing nor any system that is better than Jesus. So let's keep that focus.

Here is what I got from my reading today.

"Both the One who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family."

When I read that, I thought, "How clear can that be?" There is One who is in the business of making people holy. As it says somewhere else in the Bible, we are to be holy as our heavenly Father is holy, so we are the object of God's holy making work, in the likeness of that worker. We are not holy in and of ourselves. God is the "Holymaker" (I just made up that word, but it seems to fit the truth that God alone pronounces that which is holy or not).  God is the one that transforms the person into His image of righteousness.

(Perhaps it would be good to look at the word "holy" to understand what it means. In most dictionaries, "holy" has the idea of something that is sacred, dedicated, wholly good and pure. In regard to God, it has the sense of perfection and complete integrity and virtue. In regard to humans, as seen in the New Testament and the Old Testament, it is the very word used to describe a true follower of God (saints). "Holy" has the sense of being outside of the normal experience of the normal man or woman without God's help.)

Therefore, the Holymaker is He who creates and makes new those who could not do it by themselves. In doing this, He clarifies that in this experience of renewal the renewed is a part of His family. They are one together, "the made holy" renewed out of the same source. And because of that, the Holymaker is not ashamed nor disgraced in calling those made holy His brothers and sisters.

The power in this stance is that we who have submitted to the truth about Jesus and given our lives to Him are in a new place, with a new context and striving for a new goal. The new place is the kingdom of God. The new context is the family of faith, the church (no matter how un-perfect she may seem). The new goal is to please the Holymaker with all that we have, do and are. The power in this is that it springs from the one that has made us so. We just follow the script. Just as Jesus followed the script in becoming flesh and blood, becoming a merciful and faithful high priest who knows our frame. He had to submit to this limited human life to effect the most radical of all changes; giving victory to the tempted, suffering in their stead.

And the Holymaker was willing. Willing to declare our names, willing to keep us close and not losing one of us that God the Father had given to our Lord, Jesus.

I guess that is what family does when family has got it right. They pull together, in harmony, encouraging each other and never letting go. That goes for every member. All need to hold on. When they do, miracles can happen. Holiness will not only be intellectually known, but it will be seen, like in the time of the ancient church when those outside of the church observed her actions, commenting, "Oh how they love one another."

The Holymaker can still make it so, because we are family, don't you know.

Blessings. Until tomorrow, God willing.