Made Whole

Holy. Most people know right away that when you use the word you are going to say something about God; and if not God, then something that has to do with God—the Holy Bible or the Holy Spirit. They have no reservations about singing hymns that proclaim God’s holiness. They will gladly repeat prayers that acknowledge God’s holiness. Some of these same people bristle when you remind them “the Scriptures say, ‘You must be holy because I am holy’”(1 Peter 1:16).

Some of the resistance people have to the call to “be holy” may be attributed to their experiences with people who claimed the concept, but whose actions fell far short of resembling or honoring God. There are few ways they would want someone else to describe them that would rank below “holier than thou.” Besides all that, it seems such an impossible, unreachable, challenging goal. “. . . and doesn’t God love me just the way I am?”

The origin of the word “holy” goes back to the Middle English word “whole.” How would it change your response to the call to be “holy” if you heard it as an invitation to be “whole”?

When something is “whole” it is free of wound or injury—unhurt. It is free of defect or impairment—intact. With so many reminders of your brokenness, you might feel excluded right away; but “whole” also means recovered from a wound or injury—restored.

“Whole” is used to describe someone who is physically sound and healthy—free of disease or deformity; as well as someone who is mentally or emotionally sound. For all those people who feel like something is missing in their lives, “whole” means having all its proper parts or components—complete.

Here’s the good news: “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes” (Ephesians 1:4). It is another sign of God’s grace. The One who saved us is working to restore us and make us whole.