Holy!

“to all the beloved of God in Rome, called to be holy. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 1: 7


Today I want to remind myself that I am beloved by God and that I am holy. I want anyone that reads this today to remember that we are holy first and sinners second. We are always beloved by God. We are always part of the grace of God. During Lent, we take pains to remind ourselves of our shortcomings, and that can be a constructive thing, but we must remember that Lent is a practice of man. When Jesus was driven into the desert for 40 days he was driven by the Spirit to prepare him for the mission ahead. We also take ourselves to a desert place, a place to recognize the person we are and the person God calls us to be. But all the while, just as Jesus was “attended by angels” so are we. We are never abandoned simply because we consistently come up short. We are always holy because we have been made in the image and likeness of God. The best we can hope for is our best self…

A friend of mine called herself “defective” the other day in a conversation. I fully understand her feeling, many days I feel that way too. It is hard to turn off that voice that makes it easy to criticize ourselves and yet when we view ourselves as holy, we find it harder to view ourselves as “defective”. When we truly believe that God knows and loves us as we are, right where we stand, it is less tempting to belittle ourselves. We are made in the image and likeness of God.

So today, I invite you to join me in asking God for the grace and wisdom of knowing that you and I are holy, truly beloved. Believing this and projecting that love onto others is also a way of bringing about the kingdom of God.