Being a Holy Human

In walking a human life, believers are called to holiness just as Christ is Holy (1 Peter 1:15). In fact, we call holiness Christ-likness for that reason. There have been times when we (the Church, the general church not just one deonomination) have confused what holiness means for a human. Sometimes, we blur the lines so much that we walk away with a theology that almost calls us to be a god or we blur the lines to where we think holiness is not possible in this life. 

Some theologies will lead us to believe that just being human is a sin, in the idea, that we just can't help but sin and the only time a believer will get away from sin is at death, at glorificaltion. But just being human wasn't the problem in Genesis chapter 3. The problem was the choice to sin. A willfull choice to choose disobediance was the sin. God said to not eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree and they did. The fruit didn't accidently fall into their mouths. They chose to eat it. 

So do mistakes count as sin? What do you think? 

My mentor Pastor, Bob Russell the Senior Pastor at Yakima New Hope Community COTN, would use this illustration (on a funny note he just said this to me on the phone and I am sure he has used this same example 4 times to me and it just finally fully clicked):

Your kids are running around playing and your daughter accidentally runs into her brother knocking him down.
Is that sin? Calvanist would say yes. Wesleyan's would say no. 

She then refuses to say she is sorry and keeps playing, ingoring the needs of her little brother.
Is that sin? Calvanist would say yes. Wesleyan's would say yes. 

If we expect her to not run into her brother while playing, we would almost expect her to know the future and to be perfect. You see, she came around the corner at the same time her brother was and had no idea of knowing he was going to be there. It wasn't a willfull choice to run into her brother, it simply happened because she is not all knowing. But it was the willful choice to not say she was sorry and to not aid him. That was were sin entered the picture. 

Sometimes, I think in our pursuit of holiness we forget that we were created to be humans and not God. We make holiness godliness (which we do call it that) but in doing so we expect people, we expect ourselves, to become or to be mini gods in the sense that we become perfect, not in the sense of Christian perfectionism, but in perfect that we know everything. We are not called to be divine. We are not called to be all knowing. We are not called to be omniceient nor omnipotent. But we are creatures made in His image and therefore we are capable of bearing the fruit of that image. The call to be Holy doesn't mean we are free from making mistakes like turning a corner and running into someone.  The call to be Holy doesn't mean that we will understand how someone is going to take our words or misunderstand our words. But holiness looks like choosing to do the right things in those situations. To help those we accidentally knock over. To correct our wording and to apologize if we have offended someone. 

In this light, what does it look like to be a Holy Human? 
It looks like, following Christ. He said, "Come and Follow Me." It means getting out of your boat, like the disciples did in Matthew 4, and following HIm. To be under His teaching, under His correction, under His example. But it doesn't mean you are Him. It means that you are who He created you to be. That you are His. That you love Him so much that you choose His way over your way or the way of the world. 

We were not created because God wanted us to be all knowing even though we are capable of amazing intelligence but we were created for love. Being Holy means we "Love God and Love Others." For Christ said those were the two greatest commandments. Being Holy means we choose Love, not sin, Love.

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