Being as good as we can be

Being as good as we can be…

Ever stop to think about just how good, how nice and how loving we should be?  Wouldn’t it be nice to have these boundaries laid out before us so that we could pace ourselves in order to enjoy the ride? We often will set limits on how nice and how generous we strive to be because, let’s face it, it’s not much fun to be these things every day, all day.  We can slip into those “not so loving, not so generous” thoughts at times and get angry and resentful, even to the point we act out on these feelings.  But that’s not what God wants from us.  When we go to God’s Word and look at just how we are supposed to behave, it is clear that anything less than what He desires will not suffice. 

“For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” Leviticus 11:45(NKJV)

 

What does being holy look like?  How do we know when we have reached this level of behavior?  In my opinion we will never reach this level, but when we strive to be more like God, more like His Son Jesus Christ, we are making progress in the right direction.  Early in the Old Testament, Moses wrote of this challenge to our “misbehaving.”  Later, the Apostle Peter reminds us of this command that our actions and words should be “holy.” 

“but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’” 1 Peter 1:15-16(NKJV)

One of my favorite authors, C. S. Lewis, takes up this concept in his book “Mere Christianity.”  He writes of this Christ-like behavior as being the “whole purpose” with regards to being the Christian we were made to be. “He came to this world and became a man in order to spread to other men the kind of life He has—by what I call ‘good infection’. Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.”  Those are powerful words.  When he considers this Christian behavior to be the “whole purpose of becoming a Christian,” he is making it clear that, in his opinion, there is no other way. 

When you really think about the command from our God that we live a holy life, it can seem far-fetched that we could ever realize this type of living.  We are all sinners, and God knows this.  After all, He created us and is very aware of our challenges.  But given all of our faults, we also have the gift of free will, and we can choose to live in any manner we feel we need to in order to survive.  It’s in the attempt to be more like Christ that we become something that pleases God.  When we practice what we preach, we become more like the Child of God we were created to be.  Now I know that there are things of this world that pull us away, or that steer us in the opposite direction at times, but God knows these things are headed our way well before we see them.  He even knows our response ahead of time.  We just need to stop and think of how God would want us to react.  We pattern our response after what we feel God would want, or to borrow from a popular saying back in the day “what would Jesus do?” 

It sounds impossible, but trust me, it can be done.  Just take a minute or two to stop and think about how you act, how you behave and how you approach others.  It could be that you may find it very easy to make a change and be more like Christ.  We all could use this in our world. 

“in the world, not of the world”