5.2.26 ~ Pursuing Holiness in Every Area of Life

As we move through the holiness section of Leviticus, the Lord knows, through His righteous commandments, the good (tov) we are capable of bringing forth in the world. We have learned that He designed us to serve as His earthly vessels of life (chayah), His carriers of glory and worship (kavod), His stewards of holiness (kedushah), His models of wisdom (chochmah), and His vessels of atonement (kippurim). Through the first 24 chapters, He has shown us enough of this vision as needed to inspire us to become and behave as set-apart ones (kedoshim)—and to do it in every room of the house, every booth of the marketplace, and in every break room, lunchroom, conference room, athletic field, school setting, or workstation of our workplace. He wants every aspect of our lives to radiate holiness. Hence, why every Orthodox Jewish family starts training their three- to five-year-old children in the book of holiness—Leviticus (Vayikra).

He therefore wants to bring holiness into, and inspire us to perfect holiness in, our thought-life, our worldview, our mood and attitude matrix, our priorities, our bodily appetites and urges, our affections, our emotions, our narratives, our topics of speech, our vocabulary, our appearance, our body language, our conduct, our social interactions, our business transactions, our personal relationships, and our reactions to everything from stress to trauma to wrongdoing to injustice to persecution (run-on sentence? :-).

He wants us to impact the world with and through holiness—and then leave the dust of holiness behind as a legacy.

Once each year, on Yom Kippur, the Most High intends to test and refresh/fine-tune this holiness focus by bringing each of us to the point of completely dying to self-will and self-interest. And He intends to measure our level of holiness-maturation by the quality of our love for our fellow man. He wants us to understand that carrying His holiness (kedushah) requires radical fruit-bearing. What is to be the fruit of our kedushah? We are to love and honor the people He brings into our spheres of influence—from father and mother to neighbor to foreigner to enemy—in the same way, and to the same length, height, depth, and breadth that He loves us. How will I know if I am succeeding? The proof of whether we are actually becoming holy as He is holy, you see, is whether we are starting to love and serve people—even those who do not deserve it—like He loves and serves us—even when we do not deserve it.

"But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of behavior; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy."
(1 Pet. 1:15–16; Lev. 11:44; 19:2)

What ramifications will this radical bridal makeover the Lord has in mind for us have in our daily lives? How will it affect our daily lives? How will it change our self-talk and meditations? How will it affect our personalities? How will it upgrade—or limit—our conversations? How will it restructure our priorities? How will it impact our protocols of time management, money and possession stewardship, energy utilization, creativity deployment, and influence stewardship? How will it affect our diet, our physical appearance, and our presentation? How will it change the way we react to personal insults and offenses, to cultural/ethnic slights, to real or seeming injustices, to unpopular and/or oppressive governmental policies, to blatant immorality, to betrayals, and to bereavements? How will it alter the way we respond to hate-mongering, fear-mongering, class-envy baiting, gender-war inciting, sarcasm, backbiting—and the list could go on? And what does this have to do with our counting of the Omer (day 28) and the 49-day study on the Passover and the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world? Everything!

Shabbat Shalom!

Alan

Friday call: "Qualifications and Disqualifications of the Priesthood"

Shabbat call: "The Reward of Consistency in Giving Your Best" (Lev. 21–24)

 

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