There stands a couple, face to face, in the fading light of sunset. Neither one is speaking. They only stare into each other’s eyes. A soft breeze plays with the hair that has escaped from her loosely made ponytail, blowing it across her face. The man slowly reaches up and tucks it gently behind her ear... A typical, romantic scene from any black and white movie.
What is so romantic about somebody fixing your hair? “But it isn’t the hair fixing that made it romantic!” you argue. “It is the setting, the face to face...”
Just ask any girl who has had a guy tuck loose hairs behind their ear; it feels romantic! It doesn’t matter if the setting is a busy workday; and the interaction is two seconds long; and the man is your boss; and his only motive is to try to make you more presentable for your next appointment. It still makes a person feel loved.
Perhaps, for the men, it is having someone fix your collar, or tuck the washing instructions tag back inside your shirt, or flatten the “cowlick” of hair that is standing straight up, unbeknownst to you. We all have a desire to be made right. We all appreciate someone who sees us as we cannot see ourselves, and who loves us enough to “fix” us.
I’ve been studying the word “holy” in the Bible. The word is so common that we feel comfortable using it; but I imagine that I am not the only one who couldn’t define it.
The Greek word for “holy” could also be translated “clean” or “right.” Revelation 22:11 fairly gives us the definition in one verse, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.” Holy and right are on one side of the equation, and their opposites are filthy and unjust (not right).
When I read “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” (Leviticus 20:7) I thought that God was saying, “You need to be holy because I want my people to be perfect ‘pin-up’ people for me to show off. You need to be right for me. You need to be clean - no mussed up hair, no smudges, no sins - don’t embarrass Me like that.”
I couldn’t see any love in that. All I could see was someone wanting to protect their name. Be ye holy, for I am holy; and I don’t want you running around with my name, making people think I am dirty like you!
But the following verses gave me a different perspective on the one in Leviticus. God’s desire for us to be holy is not for selfish reasons.
“Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice: And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments; And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honor; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the LORD thy God, as he hath spoken.” Deuteronomy 26:17-19
This is relationship language. They vowed to follow the Lord... and the Lord vowed to take them as His people, to make them honored, praised, and lifted up. God was going to make them a holy people (clean) so that they would be honored.
“According as he hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love:” Ephesians 1:4
There is some romantic language for sure! He chose us. He had His eye on us for a long time, even before we were created! And He desired for us to be “before Him,” standing in front of Him, face to face - “in love.” Having your hair tucked behind your ears, or any other sort of “fixing,” fits right into this picture.
And notice in this last verse: God’s desire for our holiness is as UNselfish as it can be!
“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Ephesians 5:25-27
God “gave Himself for us” that we might be made holy. Jesus died that He might make His church holy. He died to make you and I holy. He died because He loved.
Isn’t it true that when we love someone we want to fix them? We wouldn’t let a loved one go around with spinach in their teeth, or with their skirt tucked into the back of their pantyhose, or with a sock stuck to the back of their shirt, or with a smudge of dirt on their forehead, or with a drug addiction, or with a gossip problem, or with a bragging pride, or with anything else that makes them ugly. We put value on our loved ones, and we want others to honor them as well. We don’t want to see them ashamed or judged or disrespected or hurting themselves.
God wants to make us holy because He loves us. If we could see ourselves as we really are, we also would want to be fixed! He loves us enough to want to save us from embarrassment, from the unknown-to-us dirt that Satan throws on us to shame us before the universe.
I think I have been pushing away His hand, not letting Him tuck those loose hairs away, because I wasn’t sure what He was up to. God, please forgive me. I should have known that Your motive for “fixing” me was love! You’ve always been so good to me...
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