How different holiness “looks” than we might expect

Readings:

Genesis 11

Genesis 12

Genesis 13

Matthew 5

Psalms 5

Man, how many things we take for granted these days. Imagine a world so corrupt that a faithful and righteous man who walks with God chooses to offer up his wife to a ruler as if she is his sister so that he would not be killed — and God, knowing Abram’s heart and the whole situation brings curses onto the rulers house and blessings through this wickedness onto Abram and his wife. In a world where laws and attempts at justice for all are at least the appearance that most people and nations want to project — this story can seem confusing and uncomfortable, right?

But imagine how much closer our sin is to what Abram did here — in fact, how much closer our best acts are to what Abram did here — than they are to the holiness of God. In fact, our best works are filthy rags. We can easily be distracted if we’re looking for Abram, ourselves, or anyone else to be the hero figure in these stories. No, we are all fallen, we have all fallen short, we are all in great need of Christ.

And, I love the “don’t go to the altar of you have unsettled problems with someone”. Some of the most valuable missed Sunday church services or “walk outs” in the middle of a church service have been when I’ve remembered this very verse — and choose to fear God more than fearing man.

Those moments when you know that any attempts at actual prayer time in the presence of God are going to be hindered, and instead of “looking like a good church goer” you’d rather “look like a heathen but walk as the church we are called to actually be”.

It’s funny how many times doing the things that God actually calls us to do won’t earn us any honor or respect in the eyes of people around us — and it shouldn’t anyways, if it’s really Him doing work through us.

And what about those times when we are hurting and grieving so deeply that the one that we have a problem with is God — and we’re faced with the Rock that we need to fall down upon, but it feels in some way that the rock might crush us.

This path is narrow, but it’s still so much better than when I stray or when I was blind and lost. Thank you Jesus!