All Of It: Holy, Holy, Holy

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
                                                     ~Isaiah 6:3

We think and talk in terms of “secular” and “spiritual.” Our conversations and our decision-making are tainted by distorted views of “real world” and “church world.” For some reason(s) we see a big difference between things that are “secular” and things that are “holy.” We talk about something so-and-so does at his “secular job” as opposed to the things he does in his “church job.” Or, worse, we talk about how life is in the “real world” as opposed to how life is “at church.”

The secular has become more or less what we’re in charge of: our jobs, our time, our money, our opinions, our government, our entertainment, our house, our family. The holy is what God’s in charge of: worship and the Bible, prayers and songs, Heaven and Hell.

Scripture will have none of that. Scripture holds that everything, absolutely everything, takes place on holy ground. God has something to say about every aspect of our lives: the way we feel, the way we act, the way we make our money and the way we spend it, the politics we embrace, the wars we fight, the tragedies we endure, the people we know. Nothing is hidden from the sight of our God. Nothing is exempt from his rule. The ground is holy. The people are holy. The words are holy.

As God’s people today we are not to be defined by the times in which we live. Our government does not have control over how we live our lives. Technology does not define our existence. Postmodernism does not define how we think. News and entertainment do not account for who we are. Just like Isaiah in the temple we are plunged head-first into “holy.” We are given a holy vision, we are given a holy glimpse of what’s really real: the Lord ruling in holiness, the songs of the holy angels filling the holy air with holy sounds.

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
  the whole earth is full of his glory!”

Hurst is full of his glory! Bedford is full of his glory! Richland High School is full of his glory! The Southlake Wal-Mart is full of his glory! The North Richland Hills Post Office is full of his glory! The Northeast Mall is full of his glory! The intersection of Precinct Line and 183 is full of his glory! The whole earth!

And, yes, our government does this horrible thing and our schools do these awful things and our friends say this and our neighbor says that. And, yes, poverty and disease and violence and sex and greed and lust. Yes.

But the whole earth is full of his glory!

We’ve been given the vision. We see the way things really are. Not just in our church buildings, but everywhere we walk is holy ground. Everywhere you go is a sacred space. Everybody you meet is a holy opportunity. Everything you do is a sacred activity. All of it is governed and ruled by our sovereign God who consecrates it and makes it holy for his purposes.

Peace,

Allan