God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah to his people telling them that their journey had come to an intersection. They had to decide which path they would take. Most had walked away from God’s ways. The army of Babylon was coming to carry the people of Jerusalem into exile. Jeremiah pleads with them to choose the ancient path of God’s righteous ways. This was a call to repent of their cultural ways and to turn to holiness and purity. Earlier the prophet Isaiah called this the Highway of Holiness. Jesus called his disciples to make their journey on the difficult road that leads to the narrow gate. This has never been easy to do because it goes against our human nature. The prevalence of human nature rearing itself contrary to God’s way can be seen in both the Old and New Testaments and throughout church history and the history of people in general. The inhumanity done to humans has been appalling to us. We blame our problems on spurious systems whether they be religions, corporations, or governments. We insist that education, science, and social programs will solve our problems But the more we tell people they are good, the more these hurtful behaviors keep occurring. Our culture’s experiment encouraging us to develop and to exalt our human nature is in serious trouble. Later we will look in more depth at how this is happening and what effects it is having on people in general and on the church in particular. Let it suffice for now to observe a few of the lighter side of human nature at work in our culture:
- The “dirty jobs” guy was severely criticized by a journalist who was offended by the guy’s reference to hard work.
- Also in the news a child was given detention at school for violating the “no physical contact” policy when she gave her friend a brief hug before she entered the school.
- A pastor has been arrested for preaching that an ideology is from the pit of hell because it oppresses people and encourages violence.
- Students at a university tried to keep a front-running political candidate from addressing the student body because his views on immigration violated their inclusive atmosphere where all people are warmly welcomed.
We are rapidly becoming a culture of beings who profess to be incredibly open minded, warm, loving, and welcoming and yet cannot see how our human nature opposes the high sounding philosophies we claim to hold. Far too often those inside our churches look only a little different than those outside its walls. We all, our nation and the church, are at a crossroad! May God give us the courage to discern and to face the contradictions between our thoughts, words, and actions and the perseverance to align them according to the Way that will bring hope and healing to all people. That Way is found in God’s holiness.
In the next several blogs we will look at defining holiness.
Question: How would you define holiness?
Tell the Next Generation 