Seeking Holiness

“God will not be outdone in generosity.” This powerful message has been stated by many authors over the centuries. But its implications have seldom been fully probed. It is quite obviously a reminder of God’s unceasing love for humankind. But at a deeper level, it suggests that whatever generosity we humans show toward one another God will not only match, but exceed, and that the more we strive to follow God’s example, the more of His generous nature He will reveal to us and encourage us to emulate.

This deeper meaning helps us to understand how the holiest among us advance in sanctity. God uses their acts of love to deepen their insights into the nature of holiness and invite them to Godlike living. And they accept the invitation.

Of course, most of us are far from sanctity. We may wish it and even strive for it, yet fall short. Excellence is difficult in any aspect of life and especially so in spiritual matters. It is therefore important to know what habits to cultivate. But where should we begin? What should we do? What should we avoid doing? What pitfalls should we anticipate?

Jesus taught us the fundamental act of holiness, to love our neighbor as ourselves. To focus our minds on it, He made it a central part of the “Lord’s prayer.” Every time we recite that prayer, we ask God to forgive our trespasses in the same way we forgive others—in other words, to love them as we wish to be loved.

The Bible offers further guidance that shows with remarkable clarity how to avoid evil, practice good, and please God. For example, the following:

> “The Lord Hates: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.” (Proverbs 6)

> “Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.” (1 Peter 3)

> “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. . . Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. . . First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. (Matthew 5:7)

> “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4)

> Do not be like those “puffed up with conceit,” or have an “unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, [and] evil suspicions.” (1 Timothy 6)

> Two Biblical passages have special relevance for our time: “Test everything; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5) and “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” (James 1)

With the path to sanctity made so clear, why do relatively few of us reach it?

The temptation to hate has always been fashionable but today comes in increasingly clever and appealing forms. As in the past, the haters make up lies about people they dislike to persuade us to join them in hating. Even more cleverly, they accuse those they dislike of hating us so we will turn against them. But today they also gather influential people in prominent positions, notably communication, to mislead us to accept falsehoods as truths.

Such hatred and dishonesty can cause us to forsake the commitment to love our neighbors. This is done simply by persuading us to classify certain people as outside the status of neighbor. We may thus love everyone except the ones we have been manipulated to hate—Whites or Black, Jews or Catholics, Conservatives or Liberals, Heterosexuals or Homosexuals, or others. We may even be led to believe that the ones we hate are to blame for our hating them!

Once we have been persuaded to embrace such ideas, we will see nothing odd or hypocritical about simultaneously teaching or preaching love of neighbor. And that behavior is only a short step from voting for those who practice hatred, marching with them in promoting it, and supporting violence in that cause.

Jesus’ commands are still present and so is the guidance of scripture to love our neighbors, do good, avoid evil, and live holy lives. Sadly, however, our culture has promoted obstacles to those commands and that guidance. The challenge facing people of faith is to overcome those obstacles.

To be continued.

Copyright © 2025 by Vincent Ryan Ruggiero. All rights reserved.