Picture perfect: what the bible says about holiness

What images come to mind when you imagine a holy person?

Perhaps the natural mental picture for many of us is a stuffy, serious person who never does anything wrong. Someone kind of boring and bland and somewhat cloistered.

I guess my image of a righteous person resembled a monk in a monastery - obedient to rules, strict, always praying. I remember thinking that if heaven was anything like church I didn't want to be there.

A transformation of my mental picture began to occur some time back while I was reading through the book of Matthew. Here was Jesus, the holiest person possible, living among people like you and me.

Jesus talked about holiness a lot. And Jesus was holy, without fault.

But as I read through the book of Matthew, I began to discover that the standard of righteousness that Jesus exemplified was more practical than I had thought.

The parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25 demonstrates what Jesus views as righteousness. In this parable, the difference between righteous people and unrighteous people is the way in which they treat others.

It doesn't say that righteous people understand Daniel and Revelation.

It doesn't say that righteous people pray three times a day and fast once a week.

It doesn't even say that righteous people go to church.

It does say that a righteous person is the kind of person you would want to be around. They are like God because they are unselfish and kind. They do the things God does out of love for God and for one another.

The unrighteous people are compared to goats. They look similar to the righteous people represented by sheep. In fact, if you didn't look carefully you might not be able to tell the difference.

But one group has a form of religion and the other has substance.

"The badge of Christianity is not an outward sign, not the wearing of a cross or a crown, but it is that which reveals the union of man with God. By the power of His grace manifested in the transformation of character the world is to be convinced that God has sent His Son as its Redeemer. No other influence that can surround the human soul has such power as the influence of an unselfish life. The strongest argument in favor of the gospel is a loving and lovable Christian." (Ministry of Healing, p 469)