Joining the Mission of a Holy God
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Earth’s crammed with Heaven,
And every common bush afire with God,
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes.
– Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Joining the mission of a holy God sounds a little intimidating, if I’m honest. Holy is a heavy word. The completeness of God’s holiness—His through-and-through pureness and awe-invoking presence makes me feel a little like Susan inquiring about Aslan in C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.
“Aslan is a lion–the Lion, the great Lion.” “Ooh” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion”. . . “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver . . . “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
I feel small. And inquisitive–drawn to the exploding mystery of One who can simultaneously be good and not safe. So when I try to wrap my head around my purpose from my creation being to join the mission of this holy God, I find it both irresistible and unnerving. Possibly you feel the same.
To a Holy God I Bow
“Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?” I read in Exodus 15:11, ESV. Merriam-Webster defines the word holy as “exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness.” In His pure and brilliant perfection, God is infinitely holy. Infinitely faultless. Infinitely powerful. Infinitely good. He is every bit reverence-invoking and worthy of every utterance of our worship.
It is to this God that we are yoked when we accept the adoption He freely offers us. This holy God becomes Father, Shephard, Provider, Comforter, Discipler, and intimate Friend. By His grace He leads and guides us like a wise seasoned ox patiently training a younger ox how to be like Him. And this holy God has a mission—a mission we adopted when He adopted us.
What is His mission?
“Now wherever you go, make disciples of all nations . . . And teach them to faithfully follow all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20, TPT). His mission is nearness. Bold access to Him for us, His insurmountable delight in us reciprocated for Him. King David uttered these words in Psalm 84:10a, TPT as he longed for this nearness: “For just one day of intimacy with you is like a thousand days of joy rolled into one!” God created us to intensely long for nearness with Him because He wants to be near us: “Come near to God and he will come near to you,” we are promised in James 4:8a, NIV.
God yearns to commune with us, though like oil and water, God’s holiness and our humanity don’t mix. His answer? Cleansing us with the shed blood of One who is holy—His Son. Only then can we stand in the presence of an infinitely holy God—only then can He be near us.
And in this close proximity to Him, something begins to happen. We begin to imitate Him as any child does a parent they revere and are often with. Discipleship is most effective when proximity is in play.
And the more we imitate God, the more we care about His mission—the more it becomes our mission as well, that “wherever we go” we help others experience God near to them too.
Mission both right-at-home and far away.
God’s mission is to reach every person on earth, so I cannot ignore helping in the far-away places, even in places I may never physically set foot. But neither can I dismiss that the call to make disciples wherever I go includes the right-at-home places, where I most frequently am. Simply put, it’s a both/and, not an either/or.
As a teenager, I spent several whole summers overseas because I could not ignore the call to go to the far-way places. Proximity-powered discipleship may look like short-term mission trips. However, it may also look like prayer and financial support for the ones giving access to their lives. We cannot make disciples on the other side of the globe unless something connects us. The proximity piece is vitally important.
Closer to home, proximity may be a given. However, I used to live surrounded by hundreds of neighbors, almost all of whom I never said more than hi to once a year on Halloween. Perhaps this is your story too. You have friends, and you have neighbors, but they are not the same people. Your live surrounded by people but are still sometimes lonely and longing for community.
Proximity has to be coupled with intentionality or it falls flat, as we find in our neighborhoods. We give neighbors access to our life, and because we live so close together, it is more natural to do life together throughout the week. Here, as we open up our hearts, homes, and lives to our neighbors, we find organic discipleship becomes simply a ripple effect of how God is growing and cultivating us.
Being simply me as I pursue His mission.
Let’s draw together some of the threads we’ve been discussing. Our God is infinitely, indescribably beautiful and holy. His mission is nearness—God near to humans. We join His mission when we join God’s family, helping bring closeness between God and people in both the right-at-home-and far away places. We mirror the proximity God desires with us in allowing others access to our lives so others can imitate us as we imitate Christ. So then, how do we live when God is holy and we are humans who fail so often to reflect the pure holiness of God?
This I have been learning: authenticity can be both an open door and an excuse. It can wreck walls between us and neighbors, and between us and God, but it can also be used to excuse our less-than-holiness. Let’s first talk about how authenticity—simply being ourselves–helps create real connections between us and others.
Ever walk into a home where you feel immediately at home, and you know it’s something special. Your visit feels somehow more anticipated than when a home is artificially spotless. It feels like the host was thinking more about you than themselves. The same happens when we are simply ourselves—no airs, no curated appearances of perfection. We invite others to be vulnerable when we take the lead. Bravery begets bravery, and radical authenticity transcribes to deeper friendships.
What our homes demonstrate rings true on a deeper level as well. When we are authentic, we allow God to shine more brightly through us. We flow more easily with the Spirit. We care more about others than protecting our own image. And when we are willing to be real, we create a safe space for others to share where they are struggling and need encouragement or God’s intervention in their lives.
The flip side of the coin is that we can claim authenticity as an excuse for disregarding the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Jesus’ righteousness indeed covers our inadequacies, but His nearness should be rubbing off on us, making us look more like Him.
Pride can masquerade as humility, fear as poise, destructive habits as relevance. Yet we need both authenticity and submission to the guidance of the Holy Spirit or our authenticity dismisses that the mission we’ve joined is one belonging to a God who is holy.
Can we live both authentically and above reproach?
Oh, yes, yes we can! Just as proximity and intentionality go hand-in-hand, so too does authenticity and surrender. Our authenticity is sweetest when in our weakness we point to Him.
We can admit failure and imperfections because we’ve recognized another area that we have to surrender. We don’t wallow in, nor do we hide, where we are stuck. We know we imperfectly follow a perfect God and also that His work in our lives is far from finished.
As we learn from the wisdom of Mother Theresa, “Holiness does not consist in doing extraordinary things. It consists in accepting, with a smile, what Jesus sends us. It consists in accepting and following the will of God.” Holiness is surrender—surrender to a Holy God who invites us to share His mission.
As we close today, would you join me in prayer?
Lord, would You grant me eyes to see You and a heart to revere You? You are pure and holy beyond description and Lord, I am Yours.
Though I don’t deserve to be known by You—You called have called me by name—adopted me into your family and your mission.
Help me, Lord, to be simply me—simply me surrendered wholly to Your Holy Spirit as I join You on Your mission.
In Your holy and precious name I pray, Lord, amen.
Do you long to live on mission in your neighborhood but feel imperfectly ready? I would love to help equip you through a FREE email series unpacking six missional living rhythms I am cultivating in my own life as we transition slowly out of covid shutdown. Sign up here if you would like to join me!
