the relationship of holiness and love

Today in the One Year Bible, we read from Nehemiah 12:27-13:31. In this passage, the children of Israel are told to keep themselves holy by not marrying the women of the land where they're going. And that brings up the idea of holiness. To be holy means to be set apart for God. Not to be "of this world." And being holy is important, since God specifically tells us "be holy, because I am holy."

But it's easy to get too caught up in our own holiness, isn't it? Don't you know people who are so worried about being holy that they shun other people, look down their noses at those who are less holy, and become so worked up about maintaining their own holiness that they become impossible to live with? We have to remember the purpose of being holy: to be with Him.

The point of it all isn't to become the holiest people who ever lived. The point is to be with God, and to love Him and other people. If we set ourselves apart from the ways of the world (and we know what those ways look like: dog eat dog, climb your way to the top, get all you can and woe to those who get in your way) and seek to be more like Him, we learn to love. We learn that love is what brings us to TRUE holiness. And that kind of holiness is very attractive. It makes others want to be around you, and to be more like you. In our NT passage today, Paul says, "Imitate me, and I will imitate Jesus." Why would people want to imitate Paul? Because he demonstrated love.

And love is what holiness is all about.

God, thank You for calling us to holiness... so that we can learn to love.