Holy is Not What You Think - Part 2

Holy is Not What You Think – Part 2

In the previous message, I intentionally left you with the 10 year old boy’s church experience. What he experienced is what most of us and most of any church-goer experiences. It’s not because the church set out or promotes this experience. It’s because the experience is simply “normal” in every sense of the word.

Going back to the story for a second, church street, the pulpit and the communion table all represented objects that were made “uncommon”. In other words, they were made sacred and ceremonial. As the boy grew older, he came across a word that summed up the patterns levied on the objects he had observed all his life while in church. These things were “holy”.

There’s the Word
There it is, that word everyone knows, but very few want anything to do with. If someone, said you were “holy”, today that would not be a compliment. Would it? How about you’re acting “holy”? Let someone say they “caught the Holy Ghost”. You’d think they’d lost their mind. If your church did a message series on the Holy Spirit, many would stay home and most wouldn’t get excited about it at all. Why? The word has been contaminated and abused. I use the word abused to say that’s it’s been misused by people who have no idea what “holy” is. Yet it’s a word you’ve seen all your life in the church world.

The young boy grew very inquisitive about the things of church. So much so he began to categorize churches in his community. He noticed that in the immediate community there were three white churches and three African American churches. Talk about segregation… In his assessment, he noticed that there was one African American church in particular that not everyone could attend and many feared going. There were whispers in the community about what went on in that church. The adults used that word, “holy”. The people in that church are “holy” as if it were a disease.

Can you image what happens to a child when they think you can catch a church disease that no one seemed to have a cure for? Why did this church exist and why was it so alienated? It’s because they and everyone else fell for the “common” lie and no one understood what this word really means.

You Wouldn’t Think They’re “Holy”
It’s difficult to describe what it means in words, but examples work better. In this series, we’re going where not many ministers, churches or Christians have gone before. We’re going to dispel the myths and acquaint you to the word, “holy”. It’s this word that has the ability to make you unlike any other. Here are a couple of examples: Martin Luther King Jr., President Barack Obama, Billy Graham, Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, Abraham Lincoln and the list goes on. These people are “holy”. I bet you didn’t see that coming.

You’ve been conditioned to think church when you hear this word, but really the Bible doesn’t have many, if any, references to the word in any church setting.

Now, that I have your attention. This series is going to show you why you should want and strive to be “holy”. In my next message, we will discuss the 1st appearance of this now, even more, mysterious word.

Question: what thought comes to your mind when you hear the word “holy”? Leave me a comment.

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