Cultural Holiness

Author Jerry Bridges defines 'cultural holiness' as Christians adapting to the character and behavior patterns of the Christians around them. As the Christian culture around them is more or less holy, so these Christians are more or less holy. But God has not called us to be like those around us.

Wow, that's a punch right in the spiritual nose. 1 Peter 1:15-16 says 'But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."

God requires us to be holy. Different. Set apart. Yes, even different from our brothers and sisters in Christ, in the sense that God is not comparing us with them, but he is rather comparing us to himself. We are good at praising ourselves when in our private conversations in our heads we remind ourselves how we've never killed anyone or committed adultery or stolen anything of real value. But in comparison to The Holy One, we come up sorely lacking.

And so I ask myself: Am I practicing 'cultural holiness'? Or am I letting the Holy Spirit conform me into the image of Christ? Am I just another one of the 'Christian drones', just like all the other ones getting through another day? Or am I in relentless hot pursuit of holiness?

A woman once had 10 coins. She lost one of them. She lit a lamp and swept the whole house until she found it. Once she found it she went rejoicing. I see a parallel in this story from Luke. I imagine the panicked woman searching for something she regarded as valuable. She swept the house from top to bottom. There is no apathy when you're looking for something valuable. There is no 'doing what everyone else is doing'. You have one thing on your mind and you pursue it until you find it, and then once you've found it, you rejoice. If only we would pursue holiness like this woman pursued after the coin. If only we would forsake 'cultural holiness' and embrace 'biblical separateness'.

Contra mundum,
Mark