As a young Christian, I remember hearing the command that God gave to be holy as He is holy, and I really wrestled with what that verse meant. By process of simple reasononing, I came to the conclusion that the word “holy” must mean “perfect,” because God is perfect. I knew that I was a sinner, and even though I am saved, I knew I would never be able to be perfect as God is perfect, so I was confused, but I was not one to ask too many questions at that age. I tried to live a life that was pleasing to God, but often felt defeated in my inability to be the way I thought God expected me to be. It wasn’t until years later, when I decided to look up the actual meaning of the word I thought I knew so well, and came to a more clear and accurate understanding of what God’s real expectation of me was through this command.
A couple definitions of the word “holy” are as follows:
Devoted entirely to the deity or the work or the deity.
Dedicated or consecrated to God.
What a relief these definitions brought to me! This new understanding of the word “holy” made a pivotal impact in my focus moving forward in my Christian walk. All along I had been focusing on the impossible task of making myself look perfect before God in an effort to please Him, when all He was simply asking me to be was devoted/set apart to Him and to do His work.
I realized then that my goal as a Christian was not perfection but reflection.
“For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in your hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:5-6
If God could use me, despite the times I stumbled and had to get back up, then I was thrilled to be used by Him. However, as I meditated on this thought further, I still had questions. Why does God need to reflect His light off of me? He can already fill the whole world with his light, quite literally, and the Bible even states that “the heavens declare the glory of God.” So, why does He choose to reflect His light off of me?
This caused further study, and I found out that reflection is when light hits a smooth or shiny object, and then bounces off at the same angle in the opposite direction. Make note that this can not happen if an object is rough or dirty. How is this helpful in our understanding? Consider this with me. The sun rises every day, but not every day is a bright and sunny day. There are days that the clouds block the sun, or storms seem to completely hide its presence. There are wooded lands and thick jungles where life forms struggle to grow and thrive, because of the lack of light that is able to pass through all of the barriers. Similarly, there is a lot of evil in this world that can hinder God’s lost creations from seeing the light of Jesus Christ. If He can find a well polished, smooth surface that He can come at with His Light from an angle, then He can project it into darker parts of this world that would not normally receive light from above.
Through Matthew 5:16, Christians are exhorted to “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven."
If we desire to be the surface that God can reflect His light off of, then it is vital that we ask Him continually if there are any blemishes or rough edges in our lives that need to be sanded down and wiped clean. For this cause, we are to be holy.