Don’t Be Different AloneSample

A Better Reality

As we dive into the final day of this Plan, let’s recap.

We are called to be holy like our holy God. The entirety of the Old Testament Law was intended to show us how to do just that: to relate to a God who is altogether different and represent Him to the rest of the world. Jesus, God in the flesh, summed up the entire Law—our blueprint for holiness—with two commands:

… “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40 NIV

Even though Jesus took it from 613 commands to just two, that doesn’t mean the call to holiness is easy—it’s difficult. It’s so difficult, in fact, that your old self, the one that operates in the default of selfishness, will not make it out alive.

Being holy requires us to die to ourselves daily, serve others humbly, and freely offer mercy. This kind of life stands out big time in a world that celebrates self-indulgence and normalizes using people and manipulating situations to your own advantage.

When we operate with a different default for relationships and live with an ethic built on mercy, we become signposts pointing to a better reality. We offer the world a preview of God’s coming kingdom.

How does that really happen? Peter explains it like this:

You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:5 NIV

As believers, we’re being built together into a spiritual house. What does that mean? It means God is forming us—His Church, the Body of Christ—into a place for His glory to live.

Let that sink in for a second. From the very beginning, God has been moving closer and closer to you. It started with His glory and presence filling the tabernacle, a mobile meeting house for the people of Israel and the God who rescued them from slavery. Then, God got a more permanent address in the form of the temple, where anyone who wanted to experience His presence could go. Then, when Jesus gave His life to bring us back into intimate relationship with God, the veil that separated the holiest part of the temple—the place where God’s glory resided—from the other parts split in two, unleashing the presence of God on the world. Now, to experience the glory, goodness, and presence of God, what is the world supposed to do? They are supposed to be able to interact with us, the Church. The new house for God’s glory is us—believers who have the Spirit of the living God residing in, and operating through, our very bodies!

This is why it matters that we don’t do this alone. A house isn’t built with just one brick, stone, or board. Houses are built when stones are stacked and boards are joined together. As a Christ follower, you're a living stone in God's house—but that's only part of the picture. As you interact with other believers, the Body of Christ—the Church—will get bigger and bigger, and its influence will become stronger and stronger. Here’s what Paul said about the Body of Christ in his letter to the church in Ephesus:

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:15-16 NIV

We each have a special work to do, but when we do it, it’s not about us and our individual fulfillment. It’s about each other. It’s about the Body of Christ being built up and joined together in love. This is the upside-down kingdom that Jesus introduced. One where your work is not about your own fulfillment and happiness but the benefit of the whole community.

This means you’re not just looking out for you, numero uno. It means you’ve got people’s backs and they’ve got yours. We are all in this together—because if one stone is out of place, it weakens the whole structure and distorts the picture.

So, as God’s family, we share responsibility for each other, which is so different from the way our culture works. But it’s the dream that God has had for His people from the beginning. And as holy people, we get to reintroduce the world to that dream—to show them, with our lives and through our love, a vision of a better reality.

Don’t be different alone. Let’s commit to being holy together.

Challenge: Will you take the challenge? Will you say yes to the call to be holy as your Heavenly Father is holy? Then don’t stop here. Start building habits of holiness into your life today. For ideas on what that looks like, start the Bible Plan Habits of Holiness with some friends!