A wonderful song by Addison Road asks rhetorically, "What do I know of holy?" The message is particularly appropriate as we begin a new year, especially in groups like the one I am a part of -- the Church of the Nazarene -- where we spend a lot of time talking about "holiness." We are right to spend time talking about such things. Scripture does: "Be holy as I am holy," God declares. Our call as Christians to "make disciples" is a call to be examples of a holy God who expresses his love though the person of Jesus Christ and then to call others toward that kind of existence. If we are seeking to follow and emulate a holy God, then talking about holiness together is time well spent.
However, this song I mentioned in the first sentence captures my imagination because of its incredible humility and deep reverance for God. One verse, for example, says that the singer knows the words, that God is "mighty to save," but in reality as she examines her life, she sees that so often those well-rehearsed sayings are nothing more than "words on a page." But then, the singer goes on to say, "I caught a glimpse of who You might be...." In other words, an encounter with the living God brings about not well-rehearsed answers that "sum up" the God of the Universe in a series of doctrinal statements or buzz words. Rather, the singer's encounter with God brings her to her knees, although it was just "the slightest hint of You." The chorus then gives a more heartfelt, humble, and honest response: "What do I know of you....Where have I ever stood but on the shores of Your ocean?" It is a modern day reflection of the awe for God expressed in Psalm 8, when the writer, as he examines the world around him, ponders in amazement the vast grace of God toward human beings.
Even in the short time Jesus walked among us, John's Gospel (chapter 20) reminds us that if all the wonderful things Jesus did were written down, all the books in the world could not contain them. So, while we do know a lot about God because God has desired that we know Him and know how to encounter Him, there is so much to know and encounter: "it is overwhelming to me," says the Psalmist. Maybe our problem is very much like the problem the singer expresses in the first line of the song: "I tried to hear from heaven, but I talked the whole time." God's love and holiness apparently transcend the catch phrases and bullet-point responses we often put forth as our definition for "holiness."
We believe that we are called to a "holy life," a life reflecting the love of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus does not give formulas for holy living, but instead He gives an invitation to a relationship with God through which we learn what it means to be "holy as He is holy." More often than we realize, that relationship includes (or should) times to pause, to be in awe, to recognize that God is and always will be much bigger than we can imagine and loves more than we know. This kind of awe, Proverbs reminds us, is the "beginning of wisdom." It is the beginning of encountering what we do not know. It is the beginning of encountering what holiness is, how we can live it out, and what the vast difference is between God's holiness and our own each day. From this encounter comes the deepest, most sincere confession: "What do I really know of holy?"
-- Charles W. Christian
