How do we recognize holiness in another person? Is it a happy glow or the ability to always do and say the right thing? Is it a positive mental attitude or diligence in going to church and reading scripture? The Bible defines “holy” as being set apart, but what is it that actually sets a holy person apart? I think we all too often imagine holiness as walking on water when in reality it is treading the stormy seas of life in search of those who are drowning.

A holy person does not avoid the slings and arrows of life but rather oozes a peaceful countenance every time they are pierced by the world. A holy person is one whose life has been turned inside out by the refiner’s fire of tribulation only to reveal a soul of pure gold. While the thought of turning a human being inside out conjures up painful images, I would suggest that holiness always comes at a price. Our bodies are supposed to be temples where the Lord dwells, but how can others know this gracious God unless we are turned inside out and our sanctuaries made suitable for public viewing. When we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior we will undergo painful temple restoration, but we must also be willing to take the next step and allow our renovated sanctuaries to be open houses for those who do not know the Lord.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. (2 Cor 1: 3-7)

I want to take a moment to acknowledge all my holy friends and family who have suffered this last year and offer thanks for graciously allowing your temples to be show homes for the love of Christ even when opening those doors came with some painful emotional creaking. You have been good stewards of your pain and we are all better people because of your vulnerable courage. May God bless you this coming year.

“You have had a good deal of pain in your life, and you have been a good steward of it”…I knew that a steward is a caretaker of some kind or other, the person who takes care with money particularly, or real estate, or the stateroom of an ocean liner. But what did it mean to take care of, take care with, the hurtful things that happen to you? How do you go about being the steward of, all things, your pain? (Frederick Buechner)