It started innocently enough. Jonan
recently purchased an inexpensive fountain pen. Since he knows I like fountain
pens, he prepped me for the big moment of the pen’s arrival, saying, “Wait ‘till
you see what I got on eBay!” And when it finally arrived, he pulled me into the
kitchen and forced me to sit and watch as he opened the box. (It wouldn’t have
been so bad if he had bought it as a gift for me, but he didn’t. He just wanted
me to admire his new pen. Asking
of lot of me, wasn’t he? Just saying.)
Anyhow, I dutifully praised his
purchase and joined with him in a discussion about fountain pens, eventually
comparing the qualities of the better Parkers, Pelicans, and Montblancs. These
sorts of conversations are kind of pathetic, actually, as the participants
rarely have the money to buy a great pen nor the expertise to tell the
difference. But we discussed the merits of these pens and then resorted to the
Internet for support of our positions.
This occasioned an excursion through
the websites of the world’s finest pen manufacturers. We went to my office and
did a search on the Internet. We pulled up various catalogues and started
comparing close-ups pictures. It was just then that Nicole stepped into my
office.
Jonan was sitting next to me behind
my desk, and we were both leaning forward and gazing intently at the computer’s
monitor. I had a zoomed-in image of an elegant $2,500 pen on the screen. I was
tracing the shape of the pen with my finger, and I think the words I had just
said were, “Check out these amazing curves and
lines.”
Nicole asked, “What are you two
looking at?” I froze as she stepped around to look at the screen. She glanced,
paused, and shot us a look that both asked “Why?” and said, “I’m going to try to
wash that image out of my mind and pretend it never
happened.”
That’s when she said something like,
“Sad. You and your ‘geek porn.’ Just sad.”
Awkward, like I
said.
Being caught drooling over a
fountain pen reminded me of holiness, and my need for more of it.
It reminded me of holiness because
one of my favorite illustrations of the concept involves a fountain pen. I have
a Diplomat fountain pen that Nicole gave me as a wedding gift. I use it for most
of my journaling, and it is mine. All mine. I have made it clear that everyone
else in the family is strictly forbidden to use it. (And, no, I don’t mandate
that to Nicole, but she doesn’t try to use it, so the issue has not come up.)
One of the primary meanings of the
term “holiness” is “set apart.”
In keeping with that idea, it is not a stretch to suggest that my Diplomat pen
is ‘holy’ to me and my use. It has been set
apart for my use.
In a similar way, we can speak of
Christians as being “holy” to God and “set apart” for His purposes. We are
wholly His. He has purchased and redeemed us, and we are to realize that our
members (our physical and spiritual abilities) are to be used solely for Him and
His glory. Just as my pen is not to be used by anyone else or for purposes
contrary to mine, we Christians are not to be used by anyone else or for
purposes contrary to God.
But there are other associated
meanings to the term “holiness,” particularly as it used in the Bible. The most
important of these is the concept of absolute moral purity, a righteousness
found only in God Himself. It is this quality that the Scriptures present as His
essential nature, such that one might even assert that “holiness is not so much an attribute of God as it is
the very foundation of His being.” Indeed, “The Lord is holy!” (Ps
99:9) And this is the foundational revelation God’s Word gives us concerning
Himself.
Out of this foundation arises a
natural result, the attending awe and fear experienced by one who fully
encounters Holy God. To encounter Holy God is to experience His complete
righteousness, to recognize that there is no other like Him, and to respond with
reverential awe.
As I think about these meanings and
seek to synthesize them, I come to the conclusion that Biblical ‘holiness’ is,
in God, His utter moral purity, and, in us, a reflected righteousness
characterized by God’s ownership and manifested by oneness with His purposes and
practices.
So, anyhow… back to ‘geek porn.’ If
a believer were really struggling with this or any other sort of porn, would
these thoughts on holiness help?
Yes, I think so, as long as they are
accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit. These thoughts are mere echoes of
what Paul writes in Romans six. There, he reminds believers that they have been
united with Christ in both His
death and resurrection. He points
out that, in Christ, they are no longer under the dominion of death, to obey the
commands of sin. No, he says. They are rather to consider themselves dead to sin
and alive to God. And, accordingly, he urges them to present themselves as
slaves of righteousness for holiness. In other words, if I’m struggling with
coveting pens, I need to remember that I have been purchased and my eyes (and
mind) are no longer mine. They are His, and I should not use them in ways that
are dishonoring to Him.
There is so much more to be said
about this, but space does not permit. We have not addressed the struggle we
saints (literally “holy ones”) experience as we seek to be holy, nor the irony
that we are already positionally what we seek to become. But we will leave it
here today: that we ought to bow our knees before Him Who is Holy, recognizing
His absolute moral purity and worshipping Him in reverential awe, and,
subsequently, we ought to strive, by His grace, to manifest true holiness in our
daily lives.
“As
He Who called is holy,
you
also be holy in all your conduct.”
1
Peter 1:15
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