Christians Called to Holy Difference

An inner hunger for holiness was the guiding flame that illuminated all of John Wesley’s life and teaching. Holiness is a broad Bible word, taking in all of God’s vast love and goodness (cf. Isaiah 6:3), and all the good things God desires us to be. (It does not suggest the kind of stuffiness or judgmental pickiness that some people associate with it.) Peter invited his Christian readers to “let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness.” * That call shaped John Wesley’s life and ministry. “At Oxford, the small band of Christians Wesley was mentoring shared his longing for holiness. For Wesley and his friends, holiness included a complete yielding of one’s life to God, a desire to become like Christ in heart and actions, acts of compassion for others, and a resolution to live one’s life for God’s glory.” **

• Scholar William Barclay wrote about Peter’s words, “Peter remembers the ancient command at the very heart of all Hebrew religion. It was God’s insistence to his people that they must be holy because he was holy (Leviticus 11:44; 19:2; 20:7, 26). The word for ‘holy’ is hagios whose root meaning is ‘different.’ The Temple is hagios because it is different from other buildings; the Sabbath is hagios because it is different from other days; Christians are hagios because they are different from other people. The Christian is… chosen for a task in the world and for a destiny in eternity…. chosen to live for God in time and with God in eternity…. There is laid on the Christian the task of being different.” *** What would it look like for you to be “different” in an attractive, Christ-like way in your workplace, neighborhood, or family? Are you willing to step up to that call and say, “Yes—count me in”?