God's Holiness

Whether you know it or not, the world is watching. 

They're watching for some kind of sign that God is real. That Jesus is real. That He really does love them. 

And they're not watching the heavens. It's easy for us to think that the world is watching itself for signs of God. We do that, too, sometimes. We look for rainbows, pray for rain. We see the miracle in a flower opening up for the first time or try to count the stars that light up the night sky. We examine every square inch of our circumstances, trying to figure out how the pieces come together, looking for places where a divine hand must have orchestrated it. We put every square inch of our lives under a microscope looking for even the smallest evidence that God is real, that Jesus is real, that He really loves us. 

So we just assume the world is doing the same. 

But God isn't so subtle. Yes, He works in the details. Yes, the smallest minutiae of our lives are His. Yes, if we look under the microscope or into the heavens or closely at the flower, we will find Him. But while these are ways that God shows Himself, He has always revealed Himself through His people. 

That means what the world is really watching...is us. Because that's where God is drawing their attention. 

It was true when He led Abraham into the promised land before it became the promise. When Abraham encountered other persons, it was clear that the Lord was with him; everyone knew it plainly. It was true when He led His people out of Egypt, when the most powerful army in the whole known world at the time drowned instantly in a river that only moments before had been a bed dry enough that God's people didn't even get stuck in the mud; all the peoples on the other side of that river knew the Lord through what He did at the Red Sea. It was true when He brought His people back from exile and became the God who restored them to His holy land. 

It was true when He died, rose again, and put His Spirit on His disciples, who followed His commandment to go out and make more disciples from all nations. Those nations saw what He did through eleven ordinary men, and through them, they saw Him. 

God has always used His people to show His holiness (and His heart and His love and His goodness and....) (Ezekiel 39:27).

It stands to reason, then, that He is still using His people the same way today. 

And there are plenty of opportunities for us, as His people, to show His holiness today. 

Through not being afraid of the way the world is going. Through being generous and reaching out to those in need. Through living in confident assurance in the face of uncertainty. Through being a people of peace in the midst of great contention. Through love in a world divided by hate. The list goes on and on; the opportunities are many. We are still the way God is showing Himself to the world. 

And the world is watching. 

So what are you showing them?