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In the early 1880s, William D. Longstaff wrote a poem that later became a hymn called "Take Time to Be Holy." In my branch of church tradition, we often sang this hymn. As a kid I considered it uninspiring (sorry, Mr. Longstaff), and I groaned whenever the song leader announced it. Today, decades later, I have taken a fresh look at the song and reconsidered my earlier appraisal. There's substance here.

Take time to be holy,
Speak oft with thy Lord,
Abide in him always,
And feed on his word.
Make friends of God's children;
Help those who are weak,
Forgetting in nothing his blessing to seek.

There are three more verses to Longstaff's hymn, and the second verse is also worth quoting:

Take time to be holy,
The world rushes on;
Spend much time in secret
With Jesus alone;
By looking to Jesus
Like him thou shalt be;
Thy friends in thy conduct his likeness shall see.

Each line of that second verse prompts an objection from somewhere within and helps me to understand why holy people tend to be scarce.

"Take time …" But I don't have time.

"The world rushes on …" And I am busy rushing with it.

"Spend much time in secret …" Secret? I like to brag about anything I do with and for Jesus.

"With Jesus alone …" Huh? And turn off my iPod and text messaging?

"Like [Jesus] thou shalt be …" I'd rather imitate Bill or Rick or Andy.

"Thy friends in thy conduct his likeness shall see …" Don't expect me to be that kind of example.

Despite its Victorian English, Longstaff's hymn does a pretty good job of describing the essentials of what it takes to become holy.

Becoming a holy person is intentional; you have to work at it. When God says to Israel, "Consecrate yourselves," he is putting the ball in our court. In other words, pursue whatever it takes to be a holy man, a holy woman, a holy nation.

I've not seen myself as a holy man, although I have longed to be one. Sometimes I've reasoned that I don't have the temperament or the concentrative ability for that level of spiritual nobility. And there have been times when, despite my general intention to be holy, I have felt that I failed God so miserably that I was tempted, like someone else in the past, to settle for being a servant, not a son, in his household.

I am using the word as it was used in "be holy, because I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16), where the apostle challenges a fresh Christian generation to a unique lifestyle that will set it in contrast with the pagan culture. Those who received the challenge would know instantly that they were being called to something extraordinary.

Holy starts out as descriptive of the character of God. And Christians are urged to order their lives in accordance with what they know about the nature of God. Holy can also be equated with Christlikeness and the fruits of the Holy Spirit listed in the Galatian letter. This speaks to the quality of life to which Christians are to aspire.

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