The Beauty of Holiness

A man looks at a woman, shakes his head, looks her up and down and grunts as he bites his lip and says, "Ooh girl, you are SO sexy!" (In case you didn't know, that is supposed to pass as a compliment.) Sexy, huh? A woman should be flattered? Why? There is a sexual desire in his heart that is in him that is being met by something he sees. Don't be fooled. Don't be flattered. It's not hard to be sexy to someone who is swimming in lust. One in lust, be it male or female, is like a dog. He or she will indiscriminately lie down with whatever comes by.

I received a phone message one day. There was a deep baritone voice that said very sincerely, "Thank you so much for last night..." I thought, "what in the world? This must be a prank from one of my silly friends." Then, he continued seriously, "I really appreciate your praying for me." Then I remembered. He had called the night before and God led me to pray for him. I'm sure he didn't realize how he sounded. He was just being appreciative. It's an awesome thing for a great time "last night" to have been about prayer. Mmmm, pure. If you don't understand or are unfamiliar with jazz music, you may not appreciate the genius of a prolific jazz artist. If you don't know anything about modern art, you can at best, only look at a piece and say, "ooh, pretty." You can not appreciate it. If you don't have holiness at work in you, you can't appreciate the holiness that God has worked inside of someone else. Now, some may think that's corny, but when a man can rave about your integrity, when he just can't stop thinking about your graciousness, when he is taken by your steadfast commitment to the things of God, it doesn't just speak of you. An ability to articulate an appreciation of the beauty of holiness speaks of a DESIRE for holiness in the heart of the beholder. Now THAT will get a sister's attention.